A youngster waved down Grand Meadow Superintendent Paul Besel on Tuesday, as Basel spoke of the completion of a $6.4 million building project.

The boy was looking for another teacher, and said that he had seen him “go into the gym.”

Besel just stopped a half a beat before asking, “Which gym?”

A year ago, it wouldn’t have been a question.

On Tuesday, however, Grand Meadow became home to two gyms, as a new and larger gym, complete with running track, hosted its first game.

That’s not all that opened on Tuesday. Kids helped to move the desks, tables and chairs into four new classrooms that will be home to grades 9-12 math and language arts. The space previously occupied by those classes will be taken over by middle school students.

Also new is an expansive weight room, wrestling room and concession stand.

The 37,000-square-foot addition, which starts on the north end of the school’s west end, travels south along what was once an exterior wall, and then winds to the east, effectively creates “a loop” between all domes and classrooms, said Besel.

“I am excited,” said language arts teacher Sue Wilson, who was able to move into one of the classrooms on Tuesday.

While the classrooms are slightly smaller than the ones in the domes, the new ones host a tad more usable space, said Wilson.

“And we have windows,” she said. “There are times I want my students to look out and write about something they see,” she said.

Older students worked throughout the day to move items. By evening, students were looking toward another type of new beginning: Playing in the new gym.

Besel said students in grades K-12 were using the older gym. Now, “we’re able to run two sports at one time; for instance, junior varsity could be playing one game in the smaller gym, while varsity is playing in the new.” Physical education classes will also be split between the two, with the secondary grades using the new gym.

A new running track surrounds the maple floor of the gym, whose three-point arc is a darker shade of maple. The floor can be divided into two; when dividers are pulled, full, regulation basketball or volleyball can be played on either side.

The west wall is home to a climbing wall as well, to be used during physical education classes. A special kind of lighting, using LED’s, mimics more outdoor light, said Besel.

Best of all, it has seating for another 400 people, he said. The new gym will hold 800 spectators, Besel said.

Area voters passed a $3 million bond referendum for project in 2014 and work began in August 2015. The construction management company overseeing the work is Alvin E. Benike Inc. of Rochester. The project was designed by Martin Gardner Architects of Marion, Iowa.