For four years, Santa Maria High School students were awaiting for the construction of a new building on West Morrison to finish so that they could experience the new classrooms. But after years of construction, do students and staff think it was worth the wait?
Admin workers would most likely answer yes because of the lack of air conditioning in the old office building. But what about the impact on students’ ability to learn and navigate around campus? Senior Israel Gonzalez has had trouble getting to class on time due to the amount of students trying to get to class as well. “I’ve been late to some classes and I ended up getting detention.”
Due to all the main subjects being transferred to the new building, there has been a large quantity of kids constantly walking through the halls to get to their next class. This has caused the newly built halls to feel cramped to some students. “For so many of the classes there’s a lot of room, except for when everybody is trying to get out it’s so crowded” stated Senior Brian Garcia. There may be more than sufficient room in the new classrooms, but even teachers have pointed out that it is difficult to get around when everyone else is trying to get somewhere too.
“During passing periods, the stairs are impossible. There has been a couple times where I’ve had to go do something in my prep period and I see the time and I’m like ‘oh my gosh I have to get there before [passing period].'” commented teacher Mrs. Cowans in an interview. A junior also noted how dangerous the third story building can be. “People can jump from the third [story] which was about to happen.”
However despite all these little quirks, many students had an optimistic outlook on these new classrooms. “There’s AC and the restrooms are clean.” Observed Freshman Miguel Estrada. Another teacher, Ms. Miles, commented on how she was “ready for something new.” “It’s nice and new and fresh.” she went on to say. Eddie Guevara, another Senior, had this to say about the atmosphere: “It’s very fresh in there and it’s easy to get to the classes. It’s just very cramped.”
Some solutions to the “cramped” feeling during passing periods is that students could use the outer stairs more often, leaving more space for people to go up and down as they please. Another solution could be to move the main school subjects to different parts of the campus instead of bunching them all together in the new building.
Despite all the “traffic,” this new building has many positive aspects about it. From the classrooms to the new whiteboard covered walls and large windows looking out, this new building has much to offer. However, only time will tell if all this wait was truly worth it. Until then, we can only endure these inconveniences and focus on getting through this year.
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One of the newly constructed, spacious classrooms
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