Mobile units: “A night-and-day diff erence”

from Northwest Observer / August 18 - 31, 2022

Faith Lanning, looking through a lens

‘It’s a night-and-day difference’

Northwest High School students and teachers return to renovated mobile classrooms thanks to PTSO’s successful “Mobile Makeover” project

Photos and article by PATTI STOKES

“It looks like a new place – it feels more like a home now than it does a mobile classroom,” said Heather Hahn, a Northwest High School social studies teacher. Hahn was attending the second of two open houses held Aug. 13 and 14 for the community to see the 24 units that were refurbished this summer.

As she sat at her desk in a newly renovated mobile unit that just a few months ago was marked by years of use and neglect, Hahn said of her classroom, “It’s a night-and-day difference.”

Senior Thomas Orrell was one of several students also attending the open house on Aug. 14. He and his family recently moved to the area from Georgia, and although he had not attended classes in the mobile classrooms before they were renovated this summer, he said others had told him about what poor condition they had been in.

“There have been a lot of ‘Wows!’” Orrell said of the comments he’d overheard from those who attended the open houses on Aug. 13 and 14 to see the improvements for themselves.

Michelle Gee was on the PTSO board last year when then-president Melissa Stallings broached the subject of renovating the mobile units.

“She came to the board one day out of the blue and said, ‘I think we need to

 Social studies teacher Heather Hahn attends an open house on Aug. 14 for the community to tour 24 newly renovated mobile classrooms. Compared to the classroom she left in June, Hahn said her “new” classroom is hardly recognizable.  NWHS senior Thomas Orrell recently moved to the northwest area from Georgia and will be one of 24 students serving on the PTSO’s new student delegation. Orrell, who attended the Mobile Makeover open house on Aug. 14, said he looks forward to attending classes in the renovated mobile units.

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remake the mobiles,’” Gee said. “At first, I couldn’t even comprehend what kind of project she was talking about. And then as she began talking, we discussed painting and floors and bathrooms and air conditioners … and we all just kind of said, ‘If you can make this happen, we will support you any way we can.’”

Within just a few months, the PTSO had launched its “Mobile Makeover” project, which officially got underway last January and began with reaching out to community members and businesses for their support. Fast-forward six months and almost $500,000 was raised in monetary and in-kind donations, with 23 mobile units on the school’s campus now free of bathroom mold, stained, shabby carpet, marred walls, rotted decking and more.

Standing in history teacher Ray Parrish’s renovated mobile unit while being interviewed, Gee said Parrish had been in his mobile unit for the last 28 years he had been teaching at his alma mater.

“He said it had been the exact same … until, obviously, today,” Gee said.

When asked if she was prepared for how much work the project would entail, Gee answered simply, “Not at all.”

Maybe that was a good thing, because rather than focusing on the daunting task ahead, the PTSO focused on how amazing it would be to have students and teachers return this month to classrooms that had little resemblance to the ones they left in June.

It all wouldn’t have happened without Stallings’ vision and enthusiasm for the project, Gee said.

“Aside from a couple of vacations she took based around her kids, Melissa was here every day,” Gee said. “Every day… pressure washing and painting and sweeping and cleaning – you name it and she was doing it.”

When prompted, Gee admitted that she, too, spent a lot of time on the renovation project (“but not as much as Melissa,” she was quick to point out).

And in the days leading up to the Aug. 13 and 14 open houses, when the pair realized there wasn’t enough left in the budget to cover the cost of cleaning the units, they gathered their cleaning supplies and gave the classrooms a final sprucing up.

All 23 of them.

“At that point we were so close to the finish line, and the mobile units were so amazing that we wanted them to look their best,” Gee said.

“Now that we’re here and the project is complete (minus a few checklist things), it’s really rewarding,” she said. “Seeing the before and after is indescribable.”

 Kaitlyn Hutchens, a rising freshman at Northwest High School, was on hand Aug. 14 to greet visitors touring the newly renovated mobile classrooms. Shown in photo, Hutchens stands in the mobile unit designated for PTSO volunteers to meet and work in. She’s particularly excited about that unit, since she’ll be spending some time in it as one of 24 students serving on the PTSO’s new student delegation.

 Michelle Gee, former PTSO vicepresident and president, worked closely with PTSO member and parent volunteer Melissa Stallings throughout the Mobile Makeover project. “When she fi rst brought it up, I couldn’t even comprehend what kind of project she was talking about,” Gee said during an interview at the open house on Aug. 14.  Social studies teacher Phil Coley has created an inviting work space in his recently renovated, 27-year-old mobile classroom.