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Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 | 2 a.m.<\/p>\n
Lisa Hungerford, the assistant principal at Bonanza High School, was giving a campus tour this school year to a group of graduates returning for a class reunion.<\/p>\n
Like most former Bonanza Bengals coming back to their old stomping grounds, there\u2019s one place at the top of the list to visit: the gymnasium.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s like taking a trip back to the 1970s, when the school debuted on Charleston Avenue, just west of what\u2019s now the Medical District.<\/p>\n
The walls have wood paneling and the school\u2019s colors of yellow and brown are plastered everywhere. It creates a game day experience that feels like the teams are lacing it up with The Village People blasting on the loudspeakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like an old Hoosiers gym right in the heart of Las Vegas,\u201d said Tristan Gordon, the assistant principal in charge of athletics. \u201cKids come in and their mind is blown. It felt like they were walking back in time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hungerford takes pride in welcoming visitors because she is also a graduate \u2014 and the school\u2019s unofficial historian.<\/p>\n
Hungerford is helping preserve that history in the school\u2019s ongoing $65 million makeover that includes modernizing the gym. There are new bleachers, lighting and paint.<\/p>\n
However, there won\u2019t be any wood paneling. That has been removed \u2014 but not left for waste.<\/p>\n
The wood was used as part of a mural design in the remodeling of the cafeteria that embraces the look that makes Bonanza stand out. The yellow wall has \u201c1976\u201d in brown to pay homage to the year the school opened. And 25 narrow rows of the former wood paneling are front and center.<\/p>\n
Preserving part of the wood was one way to honor the school\u2019s past, said Hungerford, a 1996 graduate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wood paneling (is) definitely a Bonanza thing,\u201d she said. \u201cThe alumni love it. That\u2019s the first thing they ask to see.\u201d<\/p>\n