Hempstead High School (Dubuque, Iowa) - Campus

Campus

The building is a three-level structure with an open courtyard in the center of the school. The school used to feature a locker bay on the ground floor, but has been recently renovated and it now contains more classrooms to increase the school's learning capabilities; all student lockers were formerly centralized in the locker bay.

Renovations currently under way will relocate lockers to the school hallways. The second level contains classrooms, an indoor pool, gyms, art, music, driver education, and FHACS (Family Health & Consumer Sciences) classrooms. The third level holds the administrative offices, library/media center, math, science, business classrooms, a physical fitness room, cafeteria/commons area, industrial technology, wood working, and automobile shops. The third level also features an auditorium complex.

The school is divided into wings. The "A" wing contains music, speech and driver education classrooms. School offices are in the "B" wing, the eastern edge of the triangle. Most of the general education classrooms are in the "C" wing, the southern side. To the west is the "D" wing, home of industrial education, art, and FHACS. An addition to the southwest corner of the building was added in late 2005 providing new classrooms for several general education subjects. The "E" wing on the north side of the building contains the cafeteria, gym, and pool. The locker bay classrooms added in 2004 and 2005 are part of the "L" wing.

The gym can be divided into three separate areas, with retractable curtains for each section. There is also retractable bleacher seating along the eastern and western walls typically used for assemblies, ballgames and other functions.

Hempstead features a 25-yard indoor swimming pool. Although swimming is no longer part of the wellness education requirement for students occasional classes are held in the pool and it is also used by the swim teams of both Hempstead and Senior High School for both practice and meets. An upgraded scoring and timekeeping system was funded jointly by both schools' booster clubs in 2003. The city recreation department also allows the general public to use the pool when school is not in session.

There is also a large auditorium complex near the eastern end of the school. This complex features movable walls, and can be divided into one or more (up to six) seating areas. However, the design of this auditorium, because of its low slope, lack of a flyspace, and modified theater-in-the-round concept, has proved impractical for many productions. Therefore, musicals are currently performed at the Five Flags Theater, and concerts are held at Eleanor Roosevelt Middle School.