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January 4, 2010

Charlestown High students move into new school for first time Monday

By TARA HETTINGER The News and Tribune Mon Jan 04, 2010, 11:08 PM EST

Students armed with maps filled the halls of the new portion of Charlestown High School, which opened to them Monday morning.

“It feels like I’m in the middle of school again on the first day and don’t know where to go,” Malachi Dean, 14, said. “It’s a whole new concept.”

But he had his friends with him to help navigate the unfamiliar hallways.

“It’s different [getting lost],” 15-year-old Deshun Coomer said. “But we’ve got maps.”

“It’s a weird change, being my senior year and being used to everything and being in a new environment, but I like it,” 17-year-old Elizabeth Smith said.

The school is in the midst of a $40 million renovation and building project that is scheduled to be completed in August. On Monday, students gathered in the existing gymnasium prior to being escorted into the new building by Principal Keith Hedges, traveling through a chilly, concrete floor corridor connecting the two.

“Stage one is here and we’re happy,” Hedges said, as he smiled watching students travel the halls for the first time.

Hedges said that means 35 new rooms, which are in five academic wings, are open. However, he said the new cafeteria and media center will not open for another 30 to 45 days.

Besides a few heating issues, mostly in the main hall, Hedges said the launch went smoothly.

“Usually, when you have a disruption to the day, there’s mischief, but we don’t have that here,” Hedges said. “It’s like Christmas. Everyone is happy and smiling.”

That feeling just may last, according to some students.

“For now, yeah,” Dean said, when asked if this makes him like school more. “It’s still school, but I’ll probably be paying more attention, looking around more and taking it all in.”

“It’s just a good change, so it makes school more exciting and not the same old thing,” Smith said.

Once the new building is complete, the original one, which was built in 1951, will be taken down in sections, Hedges said. However, the 1976 addition by the existing auditorium will remain.

That day will be bittersweet for Smith.

“As crappy as it is, I probably will miss it ... just a lot of memories there,” she said of the original building.

In June, Smith will be a part of the first class to graduate in the school’s new 3,000-seat gymnasium. The gym, which is still being constructed, is being built mostly underground, meaning people entering from the ground level will get to look down at the gym floor.

The official groundbreaking for the project was August 2008.