by Amelia Johnson (8th)
As we are all getting the hang of the new school year the question that fills all our minds is: Will we actually use the courtyard/common areas?
This new building we moved into last March has a comfortable common area on the seventh and sixth grade floors and a courtyard with astro turf on the 8th grade floor.
These features are nice and we as students would like to use them and not have them just for show like the winding spiral stairs in the library.
I believe that we should be able to eat in the commons. Recently I heard of a group being able to, but it wasn’t that public and how to earn this privilege is still not known.
Eating in those comfy, rotating egg chairs would be a nice treat, but also see how it could be annoying to nearby classrooms if they make too much noise.
Not only do we have commons but we also have a courtyard. I know eighth grade history has used the courtyard once so far, but most of the time it’s empty. There is plenty of space for some picnic tables to be installed and then students could eat out there as a reward as well.
My ELA class gets easily distracted by the happenings outside the window in the courtyard, but once the blinds are closed, problem mostly solved.
Another question that occasionally distracts me from class is: Why astro turf The courtyard is a lovely area with a small section covered in astroturf, but why? Is it necessary?
I don’t think that it is. I think that space could be better used as a community garden, or natural area pertaining to topics we learn about in science.
I learned there was a gardening club in my research for a previous article last year, but it has been gone for a while. With that area as a small garden or rain garden we could have a nicer view that is beneficial and educational for ecology I do see that it would be in the middle of the courtyard, but we could also move it into a less central area in the commons.
Finally this brings me to my last question: Do we use these wonderful new features enough?
I mentioned a couple times when I have used the courtyard, but through the window in my ELA teacher’s room I rarely see people out there.
I see some classes using the commons, but not with regular consistency. This feature could be used multiple times a day by many different classes for an outside the classroom experience.
These wonderful spaces weren’t free. Our parents and the community paid for it with their tax money, we should be using these unique resources more frequently.
On a nice day walk down and get some fresh air in the courtyard or for a quick brain break or after finishing a test before getting back on task.
How often do classes take advantage of such great resources -- and how can we do it better?