The new school is a blessing, to say the least. Millions upon millions of dollars spent on new technology, improved and updated spaces, a state-of-the-art design and a larger floor plan than before, all done to ensure the success of the student’s it will house for the next 50 years, if not more. But, with the move to the new building, came strict rules and regulations, not only for students, but also for teachers. In order to preserve its pristine condition for as long as possible, teachers are not allowed to manipulate their classrooms, or hang anything on the walls. In the old school, some teachers had configured their classrooms beyond what was originally planned, and many had larger spaces to work with and house materials than they do now.

Located in upper G-Hall of the old-school, Ms. Hill’s classroom was home to what many twelfth grade English students called “the fishbowl.” An excess space in Ms. Hill’s classroom that used to be a TV studio and was converted into an area to be used for seminar, the space could be seen through a large pane of glass. Students inside were “watched” just like fish inside of a bowl.  “I began using it when the AP classes started growing (AP LIT classes were small when I began: 12-15 students). When they grew, I sought a space for multiple seminar discussions to happen at once. AP Lit is intended as a seminar class, but having giant seminars of 30+ students was ineffective, and splitting them into two groups discussing next to each other was distracting,” said Hill. Without having to overpower the other seminar in class, the fishbowl allowed not only two conversations to happen at once, but for more effective conversation as students could share more complete thoughts and ideas without having to worry about their words being misheard and misinterpreted. “Although I am impressed with our 21st century building, I miss the flexibility of my old classroom. The fishbowl allowed me to have two classrooms in one,” said Hill.

In addition to the fishbowl, the drama department in the old building had an enormous costume closet that spanned the length of almost half a hallway, and was approximately half as deep as any classroom. It housed costumes for all productions put on by the school, and most importantly, Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival. The costume closet in the new school is nowhere near as big as it used to be, causing some complications. “We couldn’t fit all the costumes in, so just the Rock ‘n’ Roll costumes are here at the moment since that’s the show we’re doing,” said drama department chair Ms. Germanos. However, once Rock ‘n’ Roll is over and the theme switches to the fall musical or play, the costumes in the closet will be interchanged. “[The costumes] are offsite in some storage facilities [right now],” said Germanos.

Although many teachers are still adapting to the new building and its layout, just as us students are, it is too early to tell what spaces may need to be renovated and changed around. Just about every department has lost or gained something, and teachers are adapting the way they teach to better suit their classroom.