After months of construction and years of planning, the students at University High School will experience a major change when they attend their classes on Thursday, Nov. 18, in the newly completed building next door to the Smittcamp Alumni House.
Students will attend class as normal on Tuesday, Nov. 16. However, after the completion of the school day, teachers will finish packing up their personal items in their classrooms and moving trucks will begin to move everything into the new building, according to Head of UHS, James Bushman.
The move in date for faculty and teachers is today. Classes will be cancelled for students as the staff of UHS moves their items into their new classrooms and offices. Teachers will have the day to move all of their belongings before instruction resumes on the following day.
Volunteer opportunities were extended to students to help assist in the move. Any student that assists in the move will be able to select from one of the many lockers that are included in the new building earlier than students that did not help, according to sophomore Karla Timbang.
Bushman said the moving process happened in various stages. During the first week in November, large items like desks and furniture were moved into the new school. That was followed by teachers beginning to pack up their classrooms in preparation for the move, according to several UHS students.
Bushman, who joined the staff of UHS four years ago during the planning stages of the project, expressed a mixture of excitement and anxiousness when asked about the move.
“It’s one thing to see this sketched on paper, but to see it finished, I’m more pleased with it now than I was before,” stated Bushman.
Throughout the construction process, Bushman had spent many days on the job site insuring that the work being done would not only benefit the students but also allow for the teachers to teach in the best way they can. The end result is a building in which Bushman feels accentuates the campus of Fresno State.
As students move into their new building, they will notice several things. One of the most exciting things for the students at UHS is the creation of three band rooms. Previously, band members had to share a multi-purpose room with physical education classes.
“It was so crowded,” Raphael Geddert said, a sophomore at UHS who later added that the room had the “worst acoustics” for the band to practice in.
Geddert’s fellow band members and sophomores Greg Bellis and Jason Holiday nodded in agreement as he expressed his feelings about the old room.
Bushman echoed the frustration felt by band members. “During the day, the PE classes would use the multi-purpose room and the band instruments would be set to the side of the room,” Bushman said. “And then at night, the room would be changed to accommodate the band members.”
“At one time we would have six different band sections trying to play in this [multi-purpose] room.” Bushman stated.
The new building will now boast three separate rooms for the band, choir and physical education classes to take place in. In addition Bushman said the school would have its own weight room, yoga room and a modified gym for students.
But students are not the only ones that are benefiting””teachers are also finally getting their own teachers’ lounge where they can meet and relax in a way they couldn’t before.
“To have an actual lunchroom where teachers can eat their lunches is an exciting thing,” Bushman said.
All these amenities, common in many other high schools, has Bushman hopeful about the possibilities this fresh structure holds.
“Having these things meant asking ourselves questions we hadn’t asked ourselves before and has now given us the opportunity to do exciting things,” Bushman said.
A formal dedication of the school will be held for the public on Nov. 30 and will also include self-guided tours of the completed building.