As of 2023, Curtis has acquired a new and improved weight room for all sports to utilize. The decision to remodel the room next to the dance room was decided by Principal Janekie and Mr. Ritzer. During the day the space was underutilized because currently there is no yoga program. This made it the perfect room to advance the training and conditioning of all athletes. 

The new weight room was built with school funding and the repurposing of a lot of old equipment. Only minor things were newly purchased, like jump ropes and dumbbells. New flooring, and more polymeric machinery including a Vertimax system were installed.  The Vertimax machines are used to  increase vertical jumping for athletes in sports like soccer, basketball and volleyball. The new conditioning area is more spacious and can hold up to 25 people at a time, and the high ceilings allow for  more explosive exercises that couldn’t be done in the old weight room because of lower ceilings. Gym classes will utilize the old weight room which will assure safety for those who are newly learning how to weight lift. 

Curtis’ athletes are already loving the new space. Michael Vanmanen, a  freshman on varsity football, stated “I like the new workout system we are doing. We can get a lot of  guys doing quick workouts at the same time.” 

Not only are our student-athletes loving the new weight room, but so are the coaches. The girl’s basketball coach Ms. Sutton said,  “It’s a great new space, hopefully, all teams will take advantage of it and be able  to share the space.”

However, with every new win, there is a loss.  The new weight room did take away the home of the wrestling team. The Curtis wrestlers and coaches were told two weeks before winter break about the change to the space they had worked very hard to create. In January the wrestlers came back to the bleachers gone and the mats rolled away to Gym B. When asked about the situation, Mr, Alena, coach of the wrestling team since ‘99, stated “When I started the team in 1999 we used the cafeteria until the new building renovation was completed in 2019. We ended up in the cafeteria because space is an issue at Curtis. Even though it wasn’t ideal, we made it work. The team had to move tables and clean up the lunch leftovers and we shared the space with the double dutch and step teams.  When I was called into the office and shown the blueprint for the new wrestling/yoga gym I was elated that we finally found our home. We were proud of our new wrestling gym. We decorated it with our championship banners and trophies. The athletes had a place to call their own. But times have changed and the school needed the space for a new state of the art weight room. The abruptness of the move to Gym B caused a major disruption to our season already in progress. The team was heartbroken, but wrestlers are tough and we’ll make it work. The administration is trying to find a new home for the wrestling team and I’m sure this will all work out for the best for the team and the school.”

 Despite how saddened the wrestling Warriors were, this didn’t stop them from advancing to playoffs as their blended season comes to an end. 

Mr. Gambardella, assistant principal of organization,  stated timing is never good. “When we got a brand new field it happened at the beginning of the spring season. Someone is always affected. The move was dictated by when the equipment arrived.  Anything we have ever done in the building, like the moving of our guidance counselors, always provides a disruption to someone.”