Construction Update: Activity and Excitement Gain Momentum

The construction for the new school has begun, and AHS students are buzzing with excitement for the 2018 arrival date. Renderings of what the final product will look like have been shown to the students, and expectations are high. The blueprints call for an auditorium that seats 750 people with a connecting hallway to the gym, two cafeterias, a lecture hall and a library media center in the middle. The high school classrooms are in the right wing of the building and lower grade classrooms are in the left wing. There are also two synthetic turf fields, that are expected to open this August. A live-stream camera is set up around the outside of the high school so people can keep track of progress. (You can access it at Abingtonps.org.)

No matter how luxurious the new school is, there are certain aspects about the current high school that won’t be replaced. From practicing in the Paul K. Smith Music Room, to studying in the small and quiet classrooms, everyone has something that they will miss. “I will miss my sense of direction,” said sophomore Chloe Tardanico. “Everything will be so new, and I won’t know where everything is. It will be like freshman year all over again.” The Class of 2018 is scheduled to be the first class to graduate from the new school. So, everything that was once familiar, will be gone. The classrooms where they have spent the past three years will be changed, and there will be all new surroundings. Another student, Junior Lindsey Collins, said, “I will miss all of the memories made here by past generations. This new school will be like a clean slate; it will seem like they never existed.” Although juniors and seniors won’t be here to see the new school, they have still made precious memories in the current one that they will keep for the rest of their lives: the competitions at pep rallies, decorating the hallways for spirit week, or even just sitting at lunch with friends.

With high tech vent systems and gigantic hallways, it’s hard not to love the image of the new school. The whole idea of new memories (and fewer broken desks) is hard to surpass, but nothing will ever replace the generations worth of students who have left their mark on the current school. No matter how dismal it is to leave one school building behind, the excitement of a new one is infatuating. Until then, students will continue to look out the windows and watch the construction progress, and eventually, we will have a brand new school to have new experiences in.