Throughout the 2023-2024 school year, Park went through huge changes in appearance throughout the school due to construction. It took most of the school year to accomplish the changes, which included major paint jobs and construction, including a new lunch room.
Sophomore Elvis Mayotte-King said the new colors looked good at Park and made him feel more excited than last year.
“The colors made me feel more relaxed and it looked better. I thought it was a unique color for a school,” King said.
Principal LaNisha Paddock said most of the construction went smoothly, but they encountered setbacks with uncontrollable weather that set the start date for school back.
“We met that storm (that) came through,” Paddock said. “We weren’t able to get the (last) little bit of work done, and then that postponed some of the inspections.”
King said he felt good about the newly finished lunchroom, but it took a long time and the changes were exaggerated.
“The lunchroom was done beautifully, but it took way too long,” King said. “It took like two years, and they’re not making enough hot lunches, even for how big of a deal they made it sound.”
Sophomore Aiden Blumefield said Park despite the wonky situation last year, the wait was worth it.
“It did take a very long time, we had a makeshift library and lunchroom for a while,” Blumefield said. “On the other hand, the result of it was very good, because the lunchroom is really nice, and so is the library.”
Paddock said Park faced challenges during the construction, and it wasn’t able to offer an orientation for incoming underclassmen. It would have been easier for the new underclassmen to adjust to the new setting.
“I think the biggest challenge was probably not being able to create the experience that we usually do during workshop week, where we have students come in and have to adjust that just because of some of the logistical pieces of it,” Paddock said.
Blumefield said Park’s gym doesn’t fit with all the new changes made. According to him, while there were good improvements in the classrooms, other improvements could be made in the future.
“The gym could be changed because it is really old. They’ve also made a bunch of improvements in the classrooms, but there could be more improvements made in the school,” Blumefield said.
Paddock said the construction would end this fall and little touches and jobs that weren’t quite finished will get touch-ups throughout the year.
“I believe (it will be finished) mid-to-late October, maybe November, but I think it should be done earlier,” Paddock said. “Door handles that need to be fixed or they see something chipped and they will use blue tape and it will have notes.”
