Since Nov. 2025, SCHS’s pool has been under construction as part of a major campus facilities upgrade. The renovation will add features, including improved safety surfaces, updated swim timing technology and handicap-accessible lifts. While the project aims to modernize the aging facility, the construction has also temporarily displaced the swim and dive teams, forcing them to practice and compete at other schools.

After renovations, the facility will be a modernized place that supports athletes and spectators better than before. Principal Gregory Shelby believes the upgrades can aid student morale and the growth of the swimming program.
“We were inspired by MacDonald’s pool as well as a number of pools in our athletic league. There are a number of pools that are really nice, and while our pool will not be as large as some of the other pools, it will have the amenities that all the other pools have,” Shelby said. “It’s so nice to have good facilities. It helps people feel good about where they are.”

Similarly, Vice Principal Sharon Freeman viewed the pool makeover as a reflection of the long-term plan that SCUSD has made to prioritize revamping infrastructures across campuses.

“Part of the district plan is their facilities master plan at the district level, looking at the needs of all of the schools and having that checklist,” Freeman said. “Once something is done somewhere else, they decide where the next funding from property taxes and things like that go into. It was time for the pool. It was time to give it a facelift and bring it into the 21st century.”

Many athletes, including varsity swimmer junior Dhruva Kotikalapudi, were not surprised by the pool’s reconstruction given the pool’s age and history of issues.

“Throughout the years I’ve been swimming, the pool’s been shut down multiple times due to issues like the heaters. My freshman year we couldn’t have practices for almost a week because the temperature of the pool was a degree or two under the bare minimum that it legally needs to be for us to practice,” Kotikalapudi said.

Although the renovation has promised long-term benefits, it has made multiple short-term challenges for the current swim and dive season. Freeman noted that the arrangement of relocating practices to Wilcox High School and meets to other schools are temporary while the construction is in progress.

“For swim and dive, because we’re in season, they have to practice at Wilcox, and any of their home meets are being held at MacDonald. This should only be through the summer, and by the time water polo kicks in in the fall, if all stays on track, we should have the new pool up and running by then,” Freeman said.

The renovation has caused mental and physical challenges for many athletes during practice. Sharing lanes and having unfamiliar surroundings have forced the Bruins and the Chargers to make adjustments.

“It’s not home, but we’ve been making it work,” Kotikalapudi said. “I’ve been in practices where you had to split the pool and you had like 15 people in a lane, and everyone’s running into each other. They’re (Wilcox students) willing to put up with that just so that we can practice the season, which is nice.”

Sophomore Jaxon Kim has observed transportation as another challenge for many swim athletes. The off-campus location has caused many difficulties for Kim, such as getting rides and having less people participate in the stands during swim meets.

“Commuting to Wilcox has mainly been challenging because of issues with buses. Not having an on-campus pool affects participation during swim meets because it’s a lot more when you have to get picked up at Wilcox, especially since some people live close to our school, so it’s a lot different getting picked up here versus Wilcox,” Kim said.

Having to swim at Wilcox during morning practices also creates difficulties in dedicating additional time for commuting between both locations before school begins.

“We have to take a bus there, and our practice times are a lot worse. We practice in the mornings from about 6:15 to around 7:45, so I have to wake up really early for it, and that’s been the most challenging part of the transition,” Kim said. “If we didn’t have to practice there (at Wilcox), we normally wouldn’t have to wake up that early.”

Despite the pool renovations being planned to begin after the PE swim unit, they have also caused on-campus disturbances for PE courses.

“Honestly the hardest part is that it displaces things, and it’s really inconvenient for our PE classes,” Shelby said. “Our PE teachers are having to work around this, but they recognize that in the long term, this is a huge benefit.”

Shelby believes the pool project is an important step in a series of planned improvements and reflects the school’s ongoing effort to modernize facilities. With the pool being renovated, Shelby revealed that the campus is close to completing all of its long-planned improvements.

“We’ve gone through so many renovations at this school in the last twenty-five years that I’ve been here. We have either built new or renovated nearly every element of this campus, and this is one of the last things to be renovated,” Shelby said. “I’m really excited to have this be state of the art.”