The Hoover High School campus is working on several big construction projects, such as the new middle school, a new road to help with traffic during the school day, welding classrooms, NCTV updates and throwing circles. These projects have been going on since May and will be continuing throughout the school year. The district administration has been working hard to update the campus. Through a series of construction projects and dedicated workers, they are making the campus bigger and better.

NCCS School Board President Mrs. Jessica Stroia shared her thoughts about the new construction.

“This construction project is more than a new building,” she said. “It’s a celebration of Viking Pride; our shared commitment to excellence, tradition and the belief that every student deserves a strong foundation for success. As we dig into this soil, we honor our teachers, students, families and community members who shaped our district with hard work, heart and vision. Our new middle school will honor our past with pride and integrity. And at the same time, it will guide us boldly into the future, with modern learning spaces, inclusive environments and opportunities designed to inspire curiosity, creativity and collaboration.”

North Canton’s Assistant Superintendent Mr. Dave Pilati speaks on the new road currently under construction on Chapple Hill.

“The new road will help alleviate some of the traffic backups that occur at both arrival and dismissal and thin out the traffic on both 10th Street and Dogwood Street,” he said. “For students who drive to and from school from the neighborhoods in Bob-O-Link and to the north of Bob-O-Link who would normally not go north on Main Street/Cleveland Avenue, this gives them a more direct route in and out of the high school parking lot.”

Some community members were concerned regarding the new road on Chapple Hill and the amount of traffic coming through. The district’s superintendent, Mr. Tim Walker, discusses some of these concerns.

“It will have gates on it, and so it’ll only be open during the school day,” he said. “It won’t be open in the evenings and weekends.”

Mr. Scott Campbell, North Canton’s Director of Development and Special Projects, discussed the new road and what it means for Hoover students.

“This [the new road] allows us to let the parents, when they drop off, have a quick exit and go back and forth,” he said. “If they want to go back south, they can come back around or go back out 10th [Street] to Main Street. What this allows us to do is any of the student drivers that are coming in, they can come in and enter off of Chapple Hill and get to their parking spots a lot quicker.”

Campbell spoke about the various challenges that they have encountered in balancing many projects at the same time.

“You can try to control what you can control, it’s the trying to control what you can’t control,” he said. “Coordinating, communication, all of these are key in trying to do a lot of projects at one time.”

Hoover High School recently received a $3.85 million grant from Future Forward Ohio and the Ohio Department of Education for Career Tech expansion to add a Welding Career Tech program. Hoover High School Associate Principal Mr. Robert White discussed this opportunity in a press release.

“This has long been a dream for Career Tech,” he said. “Students have responded in surveys for years that welding is the program they would like to see added but the resources haven’t been available to make it happen. It’s exciting to finally give them this opportunity for a manufacturing career after high school.”

Pilati discussed the new welding program and the chances students will have.

“The welding program will help provide career opportunities in welding to many students where they can go to work right after high school and already have some training and be ahead of other 18-year-olds who are looking to enter the welding field,” he said. “There is already a significant shortage of welders in northeast Ohio and beyond, so this will provide our graduates who go through the program with the opportunity to get into a career that will allow them to advance and to earn a very good salary.”

Some students have been concerned about the new welding lab not being finished in time for the school year. White spoke on the timeframe in which the brand new welding lab will be finished by.

“Within the past year they have been working on the brand new welding lab,” he said. “And although we wanted it to be done by Aug. 20, we are really close right now [at time of publication]. So if the equipment is there, it is being
organized. Students haven’t begun welding yet, but they typically wouldn’t by this time anyway.”

Campbell celebrated how the construction will make Hoover the model school district.

“I don’t think anybody will have a campus quite like North Canton City Schools,” he said. “It [the construction projects] continues to put us up at the top of what public education is.”

Not long ago, the NCTV newsroom studio underwent renovation, renewing the studio to what it is today. Campbell talked over the updates but also how the renovations will positively affect the broadcasting journalism students.

“When you have someone like Mr. Wilson, who’s been here for years, those people get in and they figure out what their niche is,” Campbell said. “He has created this amazing class that has particles that go in every different direction from production to journalism. When you have that, you have to make sure that those areas are best utilized by our kids.”

Walker talked through the need for the NCTV studio modernization. It had become dated, and to keep the newsroom at its highest potential, it was time to update the facility. The administration wants to offer the students the best programs they can. With the help of the redevelopment, it enables the students of broadcast journalism class to have the highest learning experience. He also described his thoughts on the future of the campus, including the brand new primary and intermediate schools.

“I think we’re gonna have a phenomenal campus here,” Walker said. “I think we will have an unbelievable campus here on Seventh Street by having all of our buildings now basically within about a half mile of each other; the primary building, the intermediate building and then our campus here.”

Pilati shared information on shot put and discus’ new throwing circles. Since the new middle school is being built on the old track and field practice field, the district acquired 10 acres of land near the lacrosse field to put the brand new
throwing circles in. So now, the field gives the athletes much more room.

“The new area for both shot put and discus had to be added because the previous one was located right where the southwest corner of the new middle school is going to be built,” he said. “In order for our track team to have a place for its shot put and discus throwers to practice and compete, we had to replace the old one. The new one will be on the same side of Seventh Street where the rest of the track and field events take place, which will allow those competing in shot put and discus to be closer to the rest of the action.”

While there have been some challenges the administration and construction workers have encountered, Pilati discussed these challenges and how they were solved.

“The main challenges have been coordinating the project to make sure that staff and students who work at and attend Hoover High School can still do all of the things that they need to do that are affiliated with the school day and extracurricular activities and athletics,” he said. “For example, the staff parking lot that is accessible from Seventh Street just east of Dogwood Pool had to be closed down in order for some underground work to be completed, so that had to occur at a time that did not impact staff parking there, which was during the summer months. Another thing that had to be coordinated was the Stark Parks walking trail that runs through school property just west of the tennis courts and west of Hoover High School had to be re-routed slightly. All of these things were simply things that had to be coordinated with various groups, but none of them were challenges that could not be solved.”

Stroia elaborated on the values the North Canton district holds.

“As a school district and community, we are united in our mission to empower students,” she said. “This school will be where Viking values are lived daily, young minds are challenged, character is built and dreams take root.”