FERRIDAY — The new Ferriday Junior High School gym came alive with cheers Monday night when it hosted its first basketball game.

“I was excited, like the kids,” Principal Toyua Watson said. “I think I smiled all night.”

After 15 months and a total cost of $3,140,459, the new gym made its debut to the public.

“I’m really pleased with the finished project because it is just an excellent, excellent facility,” Concordia Parish School District Business Manager Thomas O’Neal said.

The old gym was demolished earlier this year. The new gym stands close to the old gym’s location, and O’Neal said plans are under way to turn the old site into additional parking.

Head custodian Tyrone Briggs said the new gym has several new amenities, such as an ice machine, bigger locker rooms and air conditioning instead of fans.

He said the bleachers in the old gym were too old to push back to the wall, unlike the new bleachers. Briggs said the moving bleachers make it easier to clean.

“Before that we had to crawl under the bleachers,” Briggs said.

O’Neal said the new gym also boasts a better security system and locker rooms for visiting teams.

The decision to open the gym for the game came around noon Monday after the school got the scoreboard working. Watson said students helped clean the gym to get it ready for the game, and remained afterward.

“They helped all night,” Watson said.

Before then, the school hadn’t been using the gym to make sure the gym finish on the floor had set and the surface had sufficiently hardened for basketball. The floor was redone after students broke a sprinkler head, causing it to sustain water damage.

O’Neal said wire and mesh cages have been built over the sprinkler heads since then, and a security curtain will be installed.

Despite the setback, construction continued, and Concordia Parish School District Supervisor of Transportation and Maintenance Glenn Henderson said work ended approximately two weeks ago.

Watson had been advised to wait a week and a half for the floor to harden, but she decided to wait a little longer before opening the gym in time for the Monday night game.

“They jumped right out of football season into basketball season without missing any games,” Henderson said.

O’Neal said the gym can also be used for high school games because it was built to high school standards.

But the gym is for more than just games. The gym hosted its first P.E. class Thursday and Watson plans to use it for functions such as assemblies and the school’s family math and science night.

While the gym was under construction, Ferriday Upper Elementary’s faculty was kind and let them use their facilities whenever the need arose for larger spaces, Watson said.

“It’s nice not to have to borrow someone else’s facility,” Watson said.

With its completion, the gym has become the newest addition to the district.

“Most of our schools are probably 50 years old,” Henderson said. “This will be the newest facility in the parish now. I think they’re (students) going to appreciate it and enjoy it.”

But changes in the gym aren’t quite over. O’Neal said a washer and dryer still have to be installed, the school already has machines in its home economics department, and Watson is hoping to add a few other additions.

Watson said the school will be reaching out to community and business leaders for non-essential items such as extra padding for the walls, a score table, another scoreboard and a stove for concessions.

“It’s such a nice facility that it’s like, why not go all the way?” Watson said.