by: Lily Amback /Opinion editor and Lydia Styf/staff writer
The NPCS administration decided that next year, the junior high building will sit empty and torn down. The seventh and eighth graders will move to the current intermediate school and share it with sixth grade while fifth graders will move back into their designated elementary schools.
This change is due to the current junior high building being run down. The money and time it would take to repair it would be much less convenient than the planned tear-down of the building.
However, those who did spend their junior high years here hold memories—both good and bad—of their time there.
Many students loved their time spent in the band and choir programs and now are concerned about the current junior high students not getting the same experience.
“The only issue I could foresee was band classes, how they are going to manage being in a new classroom,” senior Lillian Wooton said. “But even with that, the current (intermediate) music room has band lockers, so it’ll really just be an adjustment curve.”
Others remember their classes or teachers.
“Mr. (John) Alter yelling at us for breaking multiple cell slides in his classroom (was memorable),” senior Naomi Amaize said.
While some memories are looked back on with a laugh, others are with a bittersweet smile.
“I really liked the choir program. Mrs. (Bethany) McDonald was an amazing teacher and person. The teachers there were great. They were all so nice and did their best to make you feel included and comfortable,” freshman Aubree Amback said. “They also were able to make school fun and easy. I was able to make so many new friends at the junior high and intermediate school.”
Meanwhile, alongside these memories are concerns about the new plans. Students are unsure that having sixth through eighth grade in the same building is such a good idea. Junior high is supposed to be a transition from childish rhetoric to more serious schoolwork and assignments.
“I enjoyed my time at the junior high, partially because I was able to stay in a different school than my sisters for longer,” senior Abby Journay said. “But in general, I felt very grown up walking through those hallways and it was certainly an experience.”
Along with the age differences, students are worried about how everyone and everything will fit into the intermediate building.
“I think it’s an interesting decision. Logistically, I struggle to see how it would make sense. The intermediate school is relatively small for only two grades. I can’t see how three grades is going to make sense. However, the junior high being torn down makes a bit of sense. The building is relatively rundown and it’s not productive to keep sending grades through there when it’s in such rough shape,” senior Shelly Stock said.
But, many students are hopeful that this decision will work out in the end.
“I think it’s really sad and probably inconvenient. The elementary schools are going to go back to being overcrowded and the intermediate school doesn’t seem like it has enough space for three grade levels,” Journay said. “I hope they will be able to make it work for the future middle school students.”