DENHAM SPRINGS — Did you know that Denham Springs High School is the largest high school in the state?

According to the Louisiana Department of Education, there are 2,374 students registered this year.

The school's principal, Wesley Howard, has been in charge for seven years. He says they've been expanding to keep up with the growing student population, and the school has expanded.

"Athletics, academics, we have a STEM center down the road on Range Avenue. We've had new programs in place, new opportunities for kids," Howard said.

The newest thing academically is the renovated classrooms for the nursing program.

"We were able to take three classrooms that we had on campus and we were able to renovate them into two classes and increase the size of those individual classrooms by half," Howard said

Both classrooms give students access to state-of-the-art equipment. This gives them hands-on experience that prepares them for the real world.

"They do leave Denham High with credentials and professional skills that they can advertise if they go into the medical field," Howard said.

It's not just academics; the school is a powerhouse for athletics. They've upgraded and expanded several sports facilities.

"We have built a softball field on site, a baseball field on site, which we didn't have previously. We were able to renovate and expand our football field facilities. Prior to this project, there was no track. Now we have a track around the football field," Howard said.

Plus, they still have other things that they need to start and finish. The new field house is expected to be done by the end of this month.

"At the conclusion of that field house construction, we are going to take the old field house and renovate our boys and girls soccer, and boys and girls track teams so that every sport on campus has a place for their athletes and kids," Howard said.

Once everything is finished, Howard says there is only one place to go: "Up!"

"What I like about where we are at is we are providing the infrastructure for our students to be able to perform at their highest level, whether that's academically or athletically," Howard said.