When students returned to school after winter break, some of their classes changed locations. Renovated classrooms opened up in halls D, N and H.
Classrooms were closed off for construction in the first semester of the 2023-2024 school year. While these classrooms were renovated, many teachers had to be relocated. Some teachers moved from room to room throughout the day while other teachers stayed in one room.
“We knew at the beginning of second semester last year that this process was going to take place so we had a heads up about the process. Coming in you just kind of have that mindset that it’s gonna be hard, it’s not the easiest thing to do, it’s gonna be inconvenient, but once you get your rooms, those kinds of things would settle down,” physics teacher Cynthia Hairston said.
Hairston’s classroom was under construction during the first semester. She switched between two open classes throughout the school day.
When the second semester started, her room, D137, opened up and was newly renovated.
Major changes in the new science classrooms include a smaller room and smaller lab space. However, there is new moveable furniture that allows the teachers to reconfigure the space in the classroom.
“I love the fact that they have the digital clocks on the walls with the date,” Hairston said, “I also think the newness of it is pretty nice as well.”
Many students are still getting used to the new rooms.
“I do not like the new rooms because they are very gray and uninviting,” freshman Isaac Rabuck said, “I wouldn’t say it regularly impacts my learning, but it makes the classroom more boring so it is sometimes harder to focus.”
Rabuck has AP World History with Joshua Cooper in a new room.
“I don’t really like the new rooms because I feel trapped and they feel like my old middle school, which I don’t really like,” freshman Caroline Rickleff said.
Rickleff also has AP World History in a new room with Cooper.
Some students, however, see the advantages of the renovated classrooms and are excited about them. Burke has AP European History with James Tallman and AP Physics with Hairston in new classrooms.
“I don’t mind the new classrooms,” junior Conor Burke said, “I like the environment with a more modern and clean style. The digital clocks are nice too.”
Burke has AP European History with James Tallman and AP Physics with Hairston in new classrooms.
When the renovated classrooms opened up, more classrooms in upper H were closed for construction.
“Another reason this hasn’t been that bad is because most of the people at North Central are awesome,” U.S. History teacher Emma Neikirk said, “I just made a cup of coffee in the Athletics Office, and tech people have come to help me out a lot.”
Neikirk teaches United States History at North Central. Her previous room was H615. At the end of the first semester, she had to clean out her room and move to P221, the pool classroom.
Neikirk wishes that her room had been redone in the summer and not during the school year but her room is supposed to be finished after spring break.
“Nobody wants to be out of their space,” Neikrik said, “I’m a creature of habit, but I will say like the carpets up there were gross, they needed to be redone. The walls were gross, the wall by my desk had a hole in it. It needed to be done.”
Although Neikirk and other teachers at NC do not like having to move rooms, they are excited to have new, modern amenities.
