By Mansi Patel
Coming and leaving school, students often see the new science building being constructed every day, week, and month. The new science building will also house classes for GE (general education) as well as Special Ed.
This project started a long time back, with physiology teacher David Vasques originally leading the way for the Science Department. Many of the science classes are very cramped and that can frustrate both the teacher and the students when it comes to doing labs.
“We complained for a lot of years…. A teacher has to be here this period and then move over here for this period. The main reason we needed it is that we didn’t have enough classrooms for our teachers so it’s going to expand our number of science classrooms, by two,” said Mr. Vasques.
As the population of students gradually increased over the years, it has been harder to accommodate so many students in each class. Therefore, the GE and Special Ed classes also needed to expand. The building will include many different classes, with the one story classes being for the two science classes and the two story building being for the GE and Special Ed classes.
“They (the GE, Science, and Special Ed classes) are not really combined. They are different buildings, but it’s cheaper to build two things at the same time than one thing and then another thing. Plus we all asked at the same time as Special Ed asked back in 2008, so it’s only fair we get our stuff,” stated AP Biology and Forensics teacher Jason Dries.
With this new addition, many students are excited since there will be more space for their classes, especially for labs in science classes such as AP Chemistry, which has labs for majority of the time.
“I feel like it would be great if there is new equipment, especially sinks and stuff that work for the science classes,” stated senior Aayushi Shah.
However, this building has created problems for many students. It has been causing a lot of noise, has blocked off walking areas and its construction has far exceeded the original completion date of July and is now expected to be completed in January after Christmas Break.
“I think it will be good for the Science department, but seniors, we are probably not going to be able to see it because it is taking so long,” said Aayushi.
“It is super noisy and my daily round at lunch is made longer because I have to walk around all the fences,” said junior Guneet Sachdeva.
The portables that were once there had no sinks for labs and the space was very small and cramped, which could have been dangerous for labs that involve fire and chemicals. This new building has brought many high hope for the science, GE and Special Ed teachers. Coming back from Christmas Break, the school is expected to have a big present waiting for the students: the new and completed building. ◆
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