(Lander, WY) – After what will amount to about a year of construction upgrades, Pathfinder High School students will get a “brand new” school for the 2026/27 school year, complete with an entirely new gym.
The Class of 2026 will even get to have its graduation in the new gym at tomorrow night’s 6 PM ceremony.
Construction began last June and was potentially going to be completed by January of 2026, but the project grew in size, explained David Lehn, the senior superintendent for FedServe construction services, based out of Fargo, North Dakota.
“…It kind of snowballed; it wasn’t supposed to be this long a project,” Lehn said. “We wanted to get the kids back in by Christmas break, but they added some things, and… got a nice product out of it.”
During the construction period, the 2025/26 class operations and Pathfinder students were moved from the building, located at 863 Sweetwater Street, to the “Old North Elementary” building, located at 626 Washington Street, which was approved to be demolished back in November of 2025.
With the help of about nine different (and mostly local) subcontractors, the crews were able to redo the flooring, carpeting, bathrooms, and painting, update the classrooms with SmartBoards, completely remodel the gym and install new flooring/basketball hoops, redo the electric and lighting (complete with dimmers), install a forced air setup, build a canopy at the entrance, and update all of the administrative and commons rooms.
Ceci Crain, one of the workers, showed County 10 around the new rooms and provided pictures of how everything looked before the upgrades.
Before:
After:
Crain shared that crews found a “time capsule” of old photos, notes, and coins while they tore out the old lockers and redid the cabinetry, which may actually end up in an actual time capsule at some point.
Lehn said the gym was the biggest undertaking.
“When we started doing the demo work on the gym floor itself, it had flooded, and they dried it out,” Lehn explained. “But it had heaves in it, so they screwed it down to the concrete. It was tough getting that floor out of there, and then we found out that they used tar as a vapor barrier under there, so that all had to be ground off.”
Lehn said it “went well,” and now the floor is “just about perfectly flat,” and the school now has a “very state-of-the-art gym.”
Lehn also praised FCSD #1 Business Manager Travis Sweeney for his work on funding the project.
“It was all pretty smooth,” Lehn said of the entire endeavor, adding that the Class of 2026 got to do a walkthrough of the building for graduation practice the day County 10 did the interview with him.
“They thought it was awesome,” Lehn commented.
While the gym will be ready for graduation tomorrow, Lehn said there will still be work on the roof this summer to patch holes, an office window left to install, and some door work. It should all take about 5-7 weeks, but the building will be “100% ready” for the next school year.
Lehn shared his excitement at providing a new facility for the students.
“This is a completely different learning habitat than what they had before. I mean, I think this is going to help the kids just by their surroundings now,” Lehn said with a smile, thinking about the hard work that went into the project. “The vibe of the building has changed tremendously, and watching the kids walk down the corridor was… it makes it worth it. That’s the biggest thing, is the kids needed the upgrade, and it was well worth the time spent.”