BEND, OR -- Students at Bend Senior High are getting accustomed to a lot of construction on campus, as the 70-year-old school undergoes a major renovation. "We lost two of our halls: C hall and I hall, and then the big auditorium that we weren't expecting to lose," says Student Body President Taj Erickson. "So, things are definitely a little bit different; it's harder to navigate around school."

Senior Representative Carlie Shields says teachers have been very understanding, "You don't have different places to go, like side doors to go out of anymore. So, getting from class to class takes a long time. It's very crowded hallways, now." But, she tells KBND News, they're trying to make the best of it, "I think we've gone into the mindset this year of 'Culture Over Construction.' That's kind of been our motto. So, it really doesn't matter what our walls look like; it's still going to be the same people and the same culture." Erickson agrees, "We still have got all of our people- all of our students, all of our amazing staff, and the culture's the same. And we're going to keep it the same."

Erickson says losing the auditorium, after damage was discovered late in the summer, was the toughest blow to students, "We're definitely going to have to work harder on all of our favorite events. Because we know the expectations for them and we want to make them just as good, if not better, because people expect so much from them, because they're everyone's favorite." Shields says, "A few of my favorites, personally: the Veterans Day assembly, our pageant we do, our holiday assembly. So it's really going to make us have to think more in our space that we have, for using the gym."

Overall, says Shields, everyone's looking forward to the upgrades the district has promised, "Our new commons area is going to have garage doors, so that everything can be opened and it'll be a big indoor/outdoor area." She's most looking forward to the Jumbotron planned for the gym. 

Renovations are happening in stages and are expected to take several years.