GREAT FALLS — The gym at Loy Elementary School has been closed since January — but you wouldn't know the students were missing it.
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"Eating in the hallway — it gets a little crowded and loud, definitely," said sixth grader Olivia Leonida.
January's 4.2 magnitude earthquake cracked the walls of the school's gym and cafeteria, forcing the entire Loy community to rethink how the school operates. But for students like Olivia, the changes have come with some unexpected upsides.
"With having outdoor PE, it's nicer getting a bigger open area to run around," she said. "I like being outside. It makes me feel comfortable and calm."
Executive Director Jackie Mainwaring says the district spent months assessing the damage before repairs could begin.
"In the earthquakes that occurred last winter, the cafeteria and the gym at Loy sustained damage — some cracking in the walls," Mainwaring said. "Lots of studies, lots of work to determine what was necessary to do to fix it. And so late this summer, we were able to get started on those repairs."
"We really looked at it as an opportunity to build perseverance and to be flexible — two skills you need a lot of in life..."
While construction continues, Loy staff have transformed the school. The main hallway is now a cafeteria, dubbed the "hall-eteria" by teachers. The library was converted into a kitchen.
P.E. classes moved outside. And the librarian built a system to pull books off the shelves and deliver them directly to classrooms so students can still check out books.
Principal Shanda Brown says the disruption became a teaching moment.
"We really looked at it as an opportunity to build perseverance and to be flexible — two skills you need a lot of in life," Brown said. "We're all in this. It's a family. It's a group project. We're all in this, so let's work and get it done. We've really learned patience."
For Olivia, the lesson went further than flexibility.
"It's kind of taught me that you need to make sure that you keep your space clean," she said. "Because if I was like a second grader, I want to make sure that third grade and the rest of the grades still have a clean space to eat — nobody wants to eat at a dirty table."
Mainwaring says the district is pushing to have repairs finished before winter weather arrives.
"We're hoping the repairs are done sooner rather than later, so we aren't into the winter before that," she said.
Until then, the Lynx keep adapting — with Loy PRIDE in every hallway lunch and every outdoor P.E. class.
