This article was written by Zi’ayrha Elijah
You may have noticed that parts of the high school are a bit messy right now. There are many trucks taking up spaces, piles of concrete and bricks, signs for redirection, and occasionally some noise. While the process may be frustrating at times, we have lots of great things to look forward to when it’s done.
Construction on the high school began May 2025. The construction is growing our high school in many ways like increasing the size of the lobby in the PAC, renovating the band and choir rooms, and adding a girls’ locker room to the athletic wing. While people are frustrated with the lack of parking, in the long run there will be many benefits. Students and teachers are being resilient in making adjustments to work around the construction. The construction should wrap up sometime in May 2027.
Band teacher Greg Wells had to relocate to a different room while his new room gets built, so he has to make some difficult adjustments to work around construction.
“With the space we have in the current choir room, we can’t have my full first hour in the room anymore because it’s limited to 50 people, but it’s too small for my full marching band to be in there,” said Wells. “So we’ve had to move to the auditorium or be in multiple rooms whenever we’re inside because we can’t fit in one room anymore. It’s difficult.”
Choir teacher Jack Phillipson has to work against the noise that construction makes. This can be a challenge when you struggle to hear the voices above the noise. He makes the situation positive by focusing on the features and changes they have to look forward to.
“We’ll hear a big, loud drill or see something every once in a while, but on day one of school, I said that we’re gonna be performing duets with the construction noise all year,” Phillipson said. “So, we’ll just smile and enjoy it. If it’s so distracting that we have to stop the music, we’ll giggle about it and move on.”
The high school parking lot can already get chaotic without the disruption of the construction. Now we have lost an entire parking lot so space is limited. This means students who drive experience more stress when trying to find a spot.
Arieonna Feimster is a senior and is stressed with the amount of time it takes to find a parking spot because of the limited availability.
“I would say it definitely limits our parking, kind of makes it difficult to get from point A to point B. It is harder to get in and out of the parking lot,” Feimster said.
Senior Isabella Breihof has seen that although construction will eventually be beneficial, the parking situation is not ideal.
“When I am running late to school, I would still be able to park in the parking lot by the football field but now I have to go into the football lots. It does take longer,” Breihof said.
Senior Miley Chacho believes that the parking lot is too cramped and there simply isn’t enough parking for everyone.
“I feel that parking is a little bit claustrophobic. There’s only the main football field over in the side area. There’s a lot of construction,” Chacho said.
Construction is making big changes to our school but it can be hectic most days. The parking lot can be stressful and the noise can be too much. The impact on daily classroom lives can be noisy and frantic, but it’s better for us to remember the outcome of the construction. Construction is making the school bigger and better.
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