News
PAGE 4
Sept. 2 2016
Location of fiber optic cables delays walk; work expected to be completed Oct. 10 BY MAX WIRTH Over the summer, dear old Cathedral got its fair share of upgrades. Given the school’s long life, things are bound to wear out and deteriorate. Throughout the campus, refurbishing was a priority, both inside and out. The tennis courts were resurfaced, lockers were painted and Loretto Hall was given a new AC system. But one project not completed was Jen’s Way, the new sidewalk adjacent to the Hill. Tennis courts The Number-1 athletic renovation that took place involved tennis. “We have completely refurbished the tennis courts,” Mr. Jim McLinn ’70, Vice President for Operations, said. Prior to this year, the courts were not in the best of shape, as time and weather had damaged the playing surfaces. Now Coach Mark Noe’s defending State champion girls’ tennis team, as well as the boys’ team this fall, have facilities that match their level of play.
Another project involved the use of lots of green -- both monetarily and on the color palette. “All basement lockers were repainted in a fresh coat of kelly green paint,” McLinn said. “Also, the ramp has new carpet,” he added. Loretto updates Loretto Hall made a lot of changes behind the scenes. While students might not see these revisions, they no doubt can feel them. “There are major heating and cooling changes in Loretto Hall. There’s completely new piping for chilled water in the air conditioning. This has been finished, and we are now just tweaking the equipment,” McLinn said during an interview that took place the first week of school. “In addition to the air conditioning, there were some masonry repairs inside and outside of the building,” he said, “and there was minor painting too.” Jen’s Way is a path leading down the Hill and all over campus. This project has come
The week before school started, no workers were present on the sidewalk on the Hill that had been projected to be finished four weeks ago. According to Mr. Jim McLinn, vice president of operations, problems with the location of the fiber optic cables connected to the cell tower caused major delays. Photo by Evan Schoettle
across its fair share of problems, though. A cable owned by one of school’s vendors was found underground, preventing the beginning of digging. “We had to redesign. Now we will build up and over that area,” McLinn said. Another issue occurred during the process. “There was erosion by one of the coverts. We had to bring in 60 tons of rock and soil to repair the affected spot,” he said. “There has been two delays. And the rest of
construction is weather dependent. Oct. 10 is the new end date. It’s about one-third of the way done now,” he said, referring to the construction work that had been completed as of just before the start of the new school year. In memory of Jen The pathway is being built in memory of Jen Maginot, a sophomore who passed away last December.
Tech staff makes significant improvements to speed, accessibility of campus Wi-Fi network BY MADI TRAN
Chief information officer Mr. Rolly Landeros speaks with summer intern Jimmy Kacius ’15 about technological improvements to the school. Photo by Evan Schoettle
Over the summer the Wi-Fi capabilities were extended to the football field, tennis court, softball field and courtyard. “(TheWiFi) was installed over the summer in July,” said Mr. Rolly Landeros, chief information officer. Wi-Fi services were extended so security cameras could be installed on the football field. “We needed to provide security cameras for the football field because of the damage of property that happened last year,” Landeros said, “so I took advantage of that installation and extended (the Wi-Fi).” Extending the Wi-Fi is something Landeros has looked into, so students could use in more locations. Landeros said, “For me (extending the Wi-Fi was) something I’ve always wanted to be able to do. I know that
students, when given the opportunity can use (the Wi-Fi) for homework out there or if they want to connect socially.” The extended Wi-Fi also should help the coaches with practices. “(The coaches) are able to pull stats from Hudl as well as access video that they could show kids right there,” said Landeros. Another possibility, now that Wi-Fi is available, is live streaming games. Landeros said, “One of the things we may be able to do is stream some of the football games or lacrosse games, or even soccer games if they’re here. Any of the games, we could actually stream them live. We have enough bandwidth to do it,” said Landeros. Wi-Fi is available all over the courtyard and could assist with classes. Landeros said, “When students are out (on the courtyard) or if classes want to go out there they can
(use the Wi-Fi).” There are hopes that the extension of WiFi will help make the campus resemble a college setup. “Whatever we can do to make Cathedral High School an experience for students (to prepare for college by being) like a college campus, we’re going to do the best we can,” Landeros said. The process of extending the Wi-Fi was a challenging one. “It was a little more difficult than we anticipated,” Landeros said, “but once we got the technicalities ironed out and the configuration set correctly, we were able to make it work.” Student use of the newly extended Wi-Fi is encouraged. Landeros said, “I really hope the students get to use (the Wi-Fi) and benefit from it. I think that (the Wi-Fi) would be a resource that would eventually become expected.”