“Now we’re going to have a place of beauty. A place that pops,” outgoing Superintendent Dr. Joe Shivers said recently.

Work is continuing on the project that started in June with demolition inside the space that has pretty much looked the same since the school opened more than 60 years ago, excluding when the space was enlarged.

Shivers said the new layout will be inviting — it’ll have that “wow factor” that will make students want to be there and want to learn, from the soft, comfortable seating to the charging stations and the Maker Space equipped with a 3-D printer and tabletop CNC machine.

By the time the project is finished, Shivers will have walked off into retirement, an event that becomes official after Wednesday. But he’s been involved in the planning on the committee for the renovation. It’ll always be the library to him, but has been referred to as the Learning Commons.

Known as the Maker Space, this room will be filled with machinery to help students build what they can imagine, utilizing a 3-D printer and tabletop CNC machine and the necessary materials. (Salem News photo by Mary Ann Greier)

The new LED lighting alone has given it a new look, a much brighter room with less than half the lights, plus a dropped, acoustical ceiling, fresh paint on the wood, a new circulation desk in the center, printed wraps on the back wall and entrance, a bar-like desk against the west wall with stools, floating shelves for art work and charging stations where students can charge their phones and laptops.

A survey of students and staff called for a modern place to study. The project includes new lighting, new flooring, new ceiling, the Maker Space, new circulation desk, blinds, the bar-like desk and new entrance.

The school board set aside $250,000 for the project, but there have also been close to $5,000 in donations, too, which Shivers wants dedicated to the renovation of the courtyard, just outside the library.

He and his wife donated $500 toward the cause at his last board meeting.

“We’re going to try to make in into a real usable space,” Incoming Superintendent Sean Kirkland.

All the overgrown greenery was pulled out and new drainage installed. Plans called for river rock and maintenance free plants, plus cleaning of the concrete to give it a fresh new look.

The library is a large project at the high school, but there’s also fresh paint everywhere in the gym, including the ceiling, and in the weight room where a rubber floor was being installed in the mezzanine above the home stands in the gym.

Kirkland said he’ s hoping people notice how nice the buildings are and how well the district takes care of them, “the pride we take in them.”

School starts Aug. 21.