The new “mystery hallway” will eventually lead to the state-of-the-art aquatic center former swim coach turned Assistant Principal of Operations at Niles North Keith Robinson explained. The $15 million facility that is now under construction is scheduled for completion by the start of the 2013-14 school year.

In the meantime, however, the construction continues to affect students and teachers.

“It has impacted my dance class in a major way. The dance studio has been turned into a storage area and I have lost one fourth of the studio.  I am unable to access the ballet barres which are critical to my Ballet unit which I am supposed to begin next Monday,” Mindy Armour, the dance teacher at North, said.

Niles North swimmers also are negatively affected by it since they have to find another pool to practice in during the construction period. “I am concerned about the amount of time the girls are spending taking the bus, swimming and taking the bus again,” Varsity girls swimming coach Paul Torres said.

Yet “The old pool was old. It didn’t have diving boards, and most of all it did not meet the needs of our community. We really wanted to be able to provide an opportunity for our students to train,” Robinson said, adding that the results will be worth it.

Due to the commitment of the coaches, swimmers and generous facilities who offered to share their pools, the Niles North swimming and diving team is able to train daily. “The Niles West coaching staff has been so accommodating to us– along with the other community pools– that we should not have very many conflicts,” Torres said. “This year we are road warriors, and I think we can even embrace that role.”

In the next two years, North is set to host Regionals for boys’ and girls’ swimming, keeping Niles North swimming in the race to compete with other hosting high schools.

According to Robinson, the construction team, parents, students and coaches put their heads together to create a facility that will benefit not only the school but the community as well. The 48-year old existing pool is being renovated and will be a teaching pool for students and children in the community, supporting feeder programs and swim lessons from local park districts.

“It’s not just a curricular decision,” Robinson said. “We’re saving lives in the scheme of things.”

Ana Vancea co-wrote this article.