The Benson High News02 News n December 2017

Blake ZellmerCopy editor

Three years ago Benson High School didn't look as it does today. There wasn't any construction going on, builders moving around, classrooms being switched or portables in the south parking lot. At the moment, Benson is under full-scaled renovation for the first time in nearly twenty years- thanks to the bond OPS got a few years back. "Overall, it's good for the building, the last time it was touched was back in '99," Assistant Principal Todd Martin said. "It definitely helps the career academies, but has caused quite a few headaches for classroom movements mid-year. But staff has done well adapting, and as long as we stay on schedule and finish this summer, I'll be happy." Benson has had a few updates since '99, such as the 212 hallway (rooms A through D) and others, but not a full-scale renova-tion. "I don't think it's a hazard, I think Haus-mann Construction- they've been great, construction during the school year is never going to be considered a good thing, but we don't have another school to go to. Principal Tom Wagner said. "But if we only did construction over breaks, it'd proba-bly take give years to get done, probably longer." It's a long process, putting an entire school through renovations, and changing its layout to fit the academies. It's not easy doing it all with students and faculty in the building, but it's needed to expedite the process. "But during the summer when there's no kids here, they come in at dark and leave at dark," Wagner said. "There's construction going on between 6 AM and 10 PM in the summer, so they're working and they understand that this is a school and they're doing their best to stay out of the way." It's a struggle getting through it all, but some are trying to stay optimistic about it. "I never want to go through construc-tion again, in my life, ever." Wagner said. "It's been a learning experience though, and I still have over ten years here at Ben-son, so there might be more construction, but at least I'll have a better idea of what that can look like and how it gets orga-nized." The census at this point on the reno-vations is it's tough, Wagner even saying "right now, it's a doggone hassle."

A main reason for this is that those who made the renovation decisions are gone. "As far as small staff things like cabinet placements I can look at, but room place-ments and where they were going I had no direct input on, they were primarily made by Mrs. Harkins, the previous principal; it's like a blueprint, a lot of it was already in place, and not much can be done," Martin said. No one in control now at Benson has much say in the renovations. "I wasn't here when the plans were drawn up. I've been able to make a little bit of noise on the larger issues, but anything that I've wanted changed, just is not possible anymore," Wagner said. "It's just too late and too expensive to make changes now, which is unfortunate." Renovations are nice and all, but not so much when nobody at the school has con-trol, and everyone is left without answers. "There'll always be second guessing, although overall, I think it's going pretty well. But as one of the oldest buildings in the district it's nice, but a lot of safety measures are being upgraded, fire systems, windows, doors. But we're making do," Martin said. "All together it tries to take everyone's views and work on it." The idea was to put together views of everyone as a whole, but that wasn't how it went down. "I guess my only thoughts I wish that the district would've included the teachers more in the design of the rooms, I think it would've helped out and probably made

some people, some teachers a little bit happier, but it is what it is so you got to move on," digital design teacher Chad Crouch said. Most teachers mentioned that they weren't asked for input; regardless, most are able to move on and use what they've been given. "There's just a couple of layout ideas that, had teachers been asked- I kept a table to have as a desk, because otherwise, I wouldn't have a desk, a place to sit, to

grade things, to keep my things; that wasn't thought of," chemistry teacher Abby Sekle said. While some teachers were able to use what

they kept, others needed a bit more. "I wish they would've asked teachers a little bit more for their input, you know if they've taught here awhile like what they think should be done, and how it should be done rather than just doing it, espe-cially since we're the ones that spend all the time in our classrooms," Culinary arts teacher Ronda Bruggeman said. All in all, teachers were not consulted and wish they could've gave their opinions on the renovations. "I haven't had any major issues, like lit-tle things like the gas being turned on, but we got that figured out fast, and that was with MUD, not the construction," Sekle said. "It would've been nice if they thought of opaque blinds in the beginning, I've been told those have been ordered, so as long as that's truthful and accurate, if not I need opaque blinds, being on the side the sun rises and it gets in our eyeballs."

There's no major issues throughout the school, but a lot of the small things add up. "Yeah, I'm missing my stoves, my freezer; let me tell you this, my students are ready for college," Bruggeman said. "They've got the microwave thing down, they can microwave anything you can think of about at this point, because that's all we've been able to do." As the culinary room goes through ren-ovations, they only have access to micro-waves for half a year- or potentially longer. "I think it's one of those things that it's disruptive, it's disruptive for students, it is disruptive for teachers especially," counsel-or Jim Larson said. "I feel sorry for teachers and what they've had to do, and moving around and being put in new places, you know the portables aren't fun for any-body." It's not just teachers struggling either, the counselors share their feelings in the situation. "Something that's a pain in the butt is with the renovation being done next door," Larson said. "It's a little bit awkward sometimes when they're working in there, especially if there's a bunch of them, and you can kind of imagine the conversation of construction workers when they're to-gether, and me trying to conduct a conver-sation with students, it's a little awkward sometimes." With the counselors it's a different story, but still with issues, one such being privacy. "We have no area for families to meet privately to conference, so we were hoping that we would have a little conference area and haven't figured out where that might go yet," counselor Jan Carper said. As nice as a new office is, it's tough when the changes are big; moving to the second floor, a new layout, it's not the same as the counselors' office that stu-dents are used to. "It's better to think about what's being done to provide for a newer space, better accommodations, a better place for stu-dents in the long run; and I think when you look at something for example the main office, but to see a place for it that's closer when you come in, and it's bright and ac-commodating for things," Larson said. "You think, well that's what we did this for, we did this for that change that has to happen. Wouldn't it be nice if we could magically just do that, and it'd be done?" Despite the challenges, Larson contin-ues to look on the bright side.Pottery classroom gets a complete makeover. Photo

by Claire Murphy.

New construction creates a fair share of struggles and rewards

Construction taking place in one of the many renno-vated classrooms. Photo by Meri Davis.

The new art classroom on the ground floor. Photo by Meri Davis.

Renovations bring challenges

"I never want to go through construction

again, in my life, ever."