Not long after Porters Chapel Academy opened, its gym was home to a state of the art, rubberized, all-purpose floor.

Forty years of basketball games, gym classes and school functions wore the rubber down to nothing, essentially leaving just the hard concrete floor and paint. Finally, the old is giving way to the new. Work will be completed by the end of the month on a wood floor. It’s the first time since 1974 that a new surface has been installed in the school’s gym.

“It was needed. We were in desperate need of one,” PCA athletic director Wade Patrick said. “It’s good for school spirit. It’s something you can take pride in and brag about.”

The floor cost about $42,000 and was paid for through an ongoing fundraising effort, said Patrick Smith, chairman of PCA’s board of directors. It’s the latest project in a continuing effort to modernize the school’s facilities.

In 2013, new bleachers and lights were installed at the football field, and central air conditioning in the school building.

As part of the recent gym project, work was done to improve drainage alongside the building and the portable visitors’ bleachers were removed. Fans of both teams will sit on the permanent bleachers on the home side this season, while team benches shift to the opposite side of the gym.

Future plans include more renovations. Storage space under the home bleachers will eventually be converted into locker rooms. Installation of a new air conditioning system is also on the agenda.

Smith and Patrick said the progress of future improvements will depend on how fundraising progresses. The goal is to be able to pay for each project without putting the school into debt.

“We’re trying to do it where it’s not so much of a financial burden,” Patrick said. “It seems like every year if we can do something to help the school’s appearance, it goes a long way to attracting students to your school, which also helps.”

Patrick said the school is also renovating the gym with an eye toward atttracting major events. The school last hosted its district basketball tournament in 2006, but the improvements could allow it to bid to host the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools South State or Class A tournaments.

“We want to, down the road, host the district and the South State tournament,” Smith said. “It’s going to be a real showpiece for the school.”