Opening New Doors
First days of school bring excitement, anticipation of new amenities
September 24, 2014
The new school doors opened over the summer, although the building wasn’t entirely complete. Updates from new principal Ms. Spicer’s twitter (@Principal_Spicer) allowed students to take a sneak peek at what the building and new areas of the school looked like, but students weren’t able to actually see the new parts of the building until school started. The new features include the courtyard, room numbers, air conditioning system, science building, cafeteria extension, and subject wings.
The section that is seemingly most favorable among students is the courtyard. The goal was to imitate a college quad including sidewalks, grassy areas, an outside learning area, and tables with benches. Another crowd favorite is the extension of the commons. The area has high tables along with high chairs, and an alcove with a door leading to the counselor’s offices.
“There’s a bunch of different levels [in the courtyard] and a lot of different places to hang out,” senior Kade Ferguson said. “There’s a stage area, it seems like, and places to eat.”
The original purpose of construction, the new building, contains the new administration offices and the science classrooms that are now twice as big as they were in the original building.
“It’s so clean and open,” senior Lindsay Jones said. “All of the windows bring in so much light and make the place look so much brighter and happier.”
The classrooms have new chairs and desks as well.
“I actually have enough space to put all of my stuff now,” Jones said.
Along with the building came a skywalk to join the new building with the old building, but it only extends to the top floor. On the ground, however, is an exit and an entrance, and a fence reaches to the bottom of the walk in order to keep students safe from outside visitors. Along with the new building, the school received a new crest that was put into the floor. It pictures the old crest, the male and female lion, and it’s colored.
According to the recent poll, 17 out of 39 people favor the courtyard. Following, in order of favorites, are the air conditioning system (which isn’t pictured since the school no longer has the on-the-wall AC untis), PRIDE Time, Science building, cafeteria area, and the subject wing. The new contribution to the school that has not gained any favor is the room numbers.
