Rebuilding Together

Rebuilding

By Will Gaffey TOGETHER Seniors reflect on four years of building construction

For the past four years, current seniors have watched the school transform decades-old plaster to shiny glass and new decor.

The renovations included a new parking lot, two new wings, a new natatorium and a refurbished student entrance. While these renovations were a big undertaking, assistant principal Troy Gray saw these changes as crucial.

“We want to make sure that our kids have the latest and greatest access to everything,” Gray said. “This whole building, we just kind of outgrew it. I mean, when you walked down the hallway right outside my office, that intersection was just very tight,” Gray said.

There also weren’t enough classrooms for every teacher to have their own. English teacher Jaclyn Moryan said that she floated between different teachers’ classrooms for three semesters before she got her own in the northwest addition of the building in 2019.

“There were some challenges that went along with floating,” Moryan said. “It’s just harder to keep track of materials and it’s harder to keep track of papers. But it wasn’t the end of the world.”

Five years ago, Gray was assigned to oversee the high school’s construction by former principal Walter Kelly.

“I worked with the district directors, but I also worked with the superintendents and the construction company that was working on the building,” Gray said.

Gray controlled when construction went underway and made a point to ensure that the renovations had as little an impact on the student body as possible, which was easier when the school shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“When kids weren’t in the building, we were able to speed up the production because, keeping safety in mind, we would have to build around the kids,” Gray said. “A lot of major stuff we [did] after school, before school, or on the weekends.”

However, construction on the building did alter the functioning of school activities. Baseball team member senior Trey Brimmage said the team had an alternative locker room during his sophomore year while the new athletic facilities were being built.

“It shouldn’t have even counted as a locker room seeing as we were on the turf and they just put up two flimsy walls,” Brimmage said.

Senior Carlyn Johnson said that when Westchester Drive was closed for student entrance renovations, she had to travel further to get to school every day. “It kind of got in the way of some of my classes,” Johnson said. “I had one class where I had to walk outside through construction to get to it, which was annoying, but I would say it’s worth it.”

Though the northwest addition was scheduled for completion in August, the wing was still being finalized at the beginning of the 2019 school year. Teachers who would eventually end up in that wing were in alternate locations for a few weeks.

Library assistant Michelle Whitaker said it didn’t affect the library overall when classes ended up in the library’s adjoining rooms, though the rooms receive less use now.

“We still use them mostly for when classes need to come in and use the active board or laptops,” she said.

The library was greatly impacted

FIRST FLOOR

2019

The Northwest Addition on the first floor creates a new band hall, orchestra rooms, locker rooms, and gym. The counseling office receives an update. 2020

Along with the stairwell, a new clinic office is also built. Outside classrooms numbered in the WC100s on the west side of the building, a flexible space with glass enclosures and new furniture is created. 2021

The new student entrance is done complete with ground floor seating and the learning stairs, stairs that function as seats with outlets allowing devices to charge. The first floor level of the natatorium infill is complete.

when the renovation of the library began in 2021. The library moved to pods on the second floor above the student entrance on the other side of the school during construction, made possible by previous construction efforts and donor funds.

“We didn’t have a lot of book circulation at all,” Whitaker said. “It was just a come and go thing where people printed or asked questions or whatever, but there wasn’t a lot of library activity like we would have normally had.”

When the library opened in 2022, the activity returned and the library returned to normal again.

“Everybody likes the new furniture in the space now,” Whitaker said. “I think it’s a good space for people to come and hang out.”

Jefferson Chen, a senior AP seminar student, uses the library frequently and wishes he had another semester to enjoy its new look and play Connect Four in the back, though his favorite update to the building is the Moody Advanced Professional Studies center on the third floor of the northwest addition because it facilitates projects and collaboration.

“We have a really large class, I think, 40-something students [and there’s] lots of space for each group to discuss separately and we can just work,” Chen said. “But if it were your normal classroom, we can’t really do that because it’s too crowded.”

Chen thinks the renovations over the past four years have improved the quality of education at the school.

“I was actually really surprised by the student entrance because it was so nice that after they finished

it felt like entering a totally different school,” Chen said. “It just made me and the rest of the student body a lot more comfortable.” He believes that the renovations decreased hallway traffic dramatically by creating new ways for students to navigate through the hallways. “Even now, it can get really tight,” Chen said. “Just imagine what it was like when you had a few stairs and you had to cross paths with 2000 students in only six minutes.” Another one of his favorite changes is the introduction of pods, the glasswalled study chambers scattered across the school, which he likes to use for math work. “They feel like something special with really comfortable chairs and privacy,” Chen said. “Before, we’d probably sit in the cafeteria or a small room, and there was just not that much chance for us to actually do things.” Brimmage agrees, claiming that the pods made his school life more convenient. “Normally in previous years if I studied or if I had to do work, I’d go to the library, but now I can just go into pods and study in complete silence,” Brimmage said. Johnson said she thought the pods were weird at first, but the changes to the building grew on her over time, though they can be hard to navigate. “I was doing fish camp tours and I had a few tours in the new science wing where the pool used to be,” she said. “I had no clue where that was.” As a swim team member, Johnson believes that while the natatorium was in a convenient location, an updated version of the 50-yearold pool was needed. “It was dingy and just looked gross,” Johnson said. “It worked, but there were a lot of leaks, so sometimes water came gushing When compared to how the school was when I arrived, “ the atmosphere is just so much more welcoming. out of the wall.” The new natatorium is inside the William P. Clements Leadership Center on Douglas Avenue, across the street from the school building. The pool exceeded her expectations.

“There is new seating for people, the pool itself has two more lanes and is also a lot deeper and we have another diving board,” Johnson said. “Overall the changes have made a tremendous difference.”

The district hopes that the changes to the building will help the 100-yearold high school survive for another century, according to a statement obtained from the district website.

“When compared to how the school was when I arrived, the atmosphere is just so much more welcoming,” Chen said. “I honestly think that these changes have left a great impact on the student body, and I’m sure that they will continue to set the right tone for future classes.”

SECOND FLOOR

2019

The Northwest Addition opens and holds classes for the first time.

2020 A new stairwell opens, allowing students to take a different route between the two floors to reduce hallway congestion. 2021 The rooms for newspaper and yearbook classes are completed. SC212 is extended. New classrooms above the student entrance open. Flexible spaces and classrooms line the former natatorium hall.

2022 The updated library is completed with new furniture and a new layout.

THIRD FLOOR

2019

Moody Advanced Professional Studies Center becomes the first third floor wing of the school as part of the Northwest Addition.

2021 The space that was originally the natatorium is now filled with a new wing of classes. The Moody Advanced Professional Studies Center constructs and previews a coffee shop named Scottie Joe’s.