Curtis High School has been a large school ever since its opening in 1904 and has an excellent record when it comes to athletics; offering wrestling, lacrosse, dance, American football, and many others.  So it can’t be considered out of the ordinary that Curtis decided to build more gyms.  Surprisingly, most underclassmen didn’t know about the opening of the refurbished gyms. The staircase that leads to these rooms is the one seen as soon as students walk past the auditorium on the way to the new building.  Simply walk down two flights and go all the way to the end of the hallway, the moderately large rooms can be seen on the left.  The rooms are divided by a wall into one section that does dance and another, wrestling.  By building more gyms, the wrestlers and dancers are encouraged to unlock their true potential.  The Curtis dancers have practiced for weeks on end to be flawless in their performances. They danced nearly non stop in one of their most recent productions, “Chicago”, which was received well among students.  One can argue that the gyms are the prime example of Warrior spirit.  The sports for which the rooms were designed have brought home a total of four trophies on behalf of the wrestlers and a level of prestige from the dancers.  As soon as one walks into the wrestling gym they are greeted by the Curtis trophy case and a decent number of teens practicing.  One student named Isyss Nevarez was asked what drew her to the gym.  She stated that its the fact that “we’re a team…the mat is ours to claim.”  When asked if she agreed with the school’s decision to split the room in half, she said no because the wrestling team was started over two decades ago, when they practiced in the cafe with other teams. She feels that they deserve their own space. When asked if their was anything the gym could be improved on besides the split, it was the slant of the room.  They have to constantly move the mat because of the rooms slant.  Support wise, Nevarez thinks that they have some support from Curtis.  She was appreciative of the gym but feels that the wrestlers deserve more because of how hard they’ve worked for 20 years.   Her inspiring quotes were “Pain is weakness leaving the body”, and “finish strong”, advice we can all learn from.  Another student named Kayleen Way responded similarly to the first question, “It’s a space for us to be ourselves”.  According to him, there were many distractions when they didn’t have a place to practice. What Mr. Alena dislikes about the gym is the slant, however he says he’s alright with it because the school is ordering custom mats and listening to their needs.  What he would like to see, however, is locker rooms where everyone can store their belongings.  The support is absolutely there in his opinion. In terms of the staff support, teachers go to the games and ask students about the games.  He mentions that the bleachers are sometimes half empty.  He only had one thing to say to the school “The wrestling team has found a home.  We plan on having a long life in this gym.”