While students were home for the summer, the school was undergoing construction. Most classrooms were outfitted with new furniture, more technology and a different color scheme. Many classrooms look a lot different than they did last school year.
Health and PE teacher Kayla Ross said she’s seen the new furniture as benefiting the students, causing them to engage more as a community. She said the new furniture helps students engage more with each other.
“(Students are) more engaged, not necessarily directly due to the seating but they are since they are sitting closer together, like more social. I see social-emotional building within students,” Ross said.
Sophomore Yusuf Yusuf said the classrooms make him feel more engaged in class. He said the new classrooms provide a better learning environment.
“I like the new classrooms because it makes me feel more engaged in the class, instead of the old classrooms feeling a bit more boring. These ones are more fun to look at,” Yusuf said.
According to Senior Emily Foster, the new rooms don’t make that much of an impact. She said although there are some areas where the new classrooms are nicer, she didn’t mind what the previous classrooms were like.
“There are some aspects of the new (classrooms) that are nice. I didn’t mind the desks we had before them,” Foster said.
Ross said a downside to the new classrooms is the new equipment that replaced her old projector. The smartboard limits who can see the screen clearly, making it difficult to teach and lecture her students.
“(The smart board) is a downside. My last classroom had a projector, and it projected so all students could see very easily no matter where they were sitting in the room,” Ross said. “In this room, the smart board makes it, it’s a little smaller and harder for everyone to see if they are sitting at a different side of the room.”
According to Yusuf, there aren’t any downsides to the new room. He says that the new color scheme of the rooms allow him to focus better in class compared to the old, dated rooms.
“I feel like the rooms keep me more focused on what the teacher is saying. The old classrooms felt too old and boring, I like the bright colors,” Yusuf said.
Foster said the new rooms have a more uniform look now and the similar color in every classroom feels repetitive.
“They all look the same now, a light gray background and it’s kinda like oh here’s all the same furniture in every single room,” Foster said.
