The Unspoken Impact of Building Construction
The senior lounge, auditorium, and the impact on students. Shannon writes all about it in her article.
You may or may not have heard about the construction plans for the high school next year. The auditorium is expected to be rebuilt and a catwalk to be added. To do this, the senior lounge will have to be removed in order to bring the materials into the building. This is about a two year project. So what does this mean? This means that the graduating classes of 2023 and 2024 won’t get a senior lounge, and the musical will be held at the middle school.
Many students at the high school are frustrated and bitter that we all never got the high school experience we wanted or hoped for. Growing up some of us had older siblings we watched go through high school and we were influenced by TV shows on what our high school experience would entail. Even though they may have been unrealistic and dramatic, we still wanted that experience with our friends for the last four years before we all went our own ways into the real world. Freshman year we were all worrisome about our year ending short due to the pandemic. From them on we were afraid of what the future might hold. Now as we are on our way back to normal, the construction project is taking away many more experiences for us. Our guidance counselor informed us of this news, and said we should ask student counsel to make sure we have a senior lounge next year, even if it’s in a different area. I decided to email our superintendent, Mr. Ginestre, and asked him what the construction was going to affect. His response was that the project was going to take about two years. The auditorium will be remodeled and a second level will be added to it. He also said the senior lounge would be remodeled when the auditorium is done.
I asked for my fellow junior classmates’ opinions and the class below me, as well. Many people involved with the musical stated that it was annoying and frustrating because the last two years have been restricted due to COVID. Some mentioned wanting the musical to go on at a venue while others didn’t mind the idea of having the musical in the middle school auditorium. Most of the current juniors and sophomores that I talked to were also very aggravated about not having a senior lounge. Many felt that they were being deprived of yet another high school “right of passage”.
For the past two years; we missed dances, pep rallies, going to sports events and last year we only went to school two days a week with only half of our classmates. I wished the administration would have thought about this when making these decisions or sent out student surveys on a new temporary senior lounge and where they should host the musical.
Shannon is a junior at Sweet Home High School.