A farewell to Naperville Central as we know it

They toured.

They shopped.

They swung.

The Naperville Central High School community recently had a chance to bid farewell to the school building in its current form as classes ended and a new round of renovation work began.

"It's bittersweet," said Gail Roberts Dudlicek, a 1980 graduate. "It's sad because you're going to miss all the old pieces - but it's nice because the kids really do deserve a new fresh place to be."

The farewell began with tours of the three-story wing, much of which will be gutted in the renovation.

Groups walked through the basement underneath the Little Theatre where the walls have been signed by thespians for decades. Lynne Nolan, dean of student activities, debunked myths of an underground tunnel leading to the football stadium but did show the alumni a space that was once used as a bomb shelter.

They walked through the area that was once the school's original library in addition to a room known as the "dead fly room" that also once served as a janitorial staff apartment.

Alumni saw the old teachers' cafeteria from the 1950s, which has a mural experts say was either influenced or perhaps even created by Naperville artist Les Schrader. The mural will be among the mementos that will be preserved.

"You'll still see pieces of the old building in the new," Nolan said. "You'll just have to look a little harder."

Crews broke ground on the $87.7 million renovation project in May 2009. The work includes a three-story addition that will house all major academic subjects as well as a new kitchen and cafeteria. In the old building, crews will relocate and update the learning resource center, reduce building entrances, create new athletic and music spaces and upgrade infrastructure.

Last fall, workers replaced the old football field with synthetic turf and created an eight-lane track around it.

Caroline Lauing Finzer, a 1965 graduate, wore her homecoming queen crown to the farewell event and said she is glad the district decided on a renovation and not a complete rebuild of the school, which dates back to 1950.

"There's a heritage, a feeling of rootedness in the old building and I would have been very upset if they had bulldozed all of it," Lauing Finzer said. "Even though Naperville is a fairly well-to-do community I think from an economic standpoint this was the way to go."

Some items from the building won't be staying but will wind up in the hands of alumni and other community members. The school held a garage sale during the tours with items like watches, picture frames, key chains, dishes, Halloween decorations, a toaster, yearbooks and desk chairs.

A weekend auction divvied up bigger items like pedestal sinks, a phone booth, cabinets, light fixtures and doors.

Rummaging through items at the garage sale, 2009 graduate Daniel Hamburger found a blown up photo of himself at a homecoming assembly. He also snatched up an enlarged picture from a football game taken by friend Casey Berner, who won a photography contest that landed the two at the Super Bowl.

"I wanted to take something home to at least have as memories," Hamburger said while at the garage sale. "I guess I lucked out."

Some current students weren't feeling quite as sentimental about the building. After finals ended, they lined up to take a few swings of the sledgehammer on walls scheduled for demolition.

"It felt really good," soon-to-be sophomore Kaitlyn Crebo said after pounding a hole into a classroom wall. "After being under a lot of stress it was like a big therapy session."

John Cinzio, who will be a junior in the fall, also released some pent-up frustration and said he is happy for the changes to come.

"I'm excited to go back to school for once, Cinzio said, "because I get to see a brand new school and it's going to look awesome."