What is the value & impact of a new, modern school building?
"I think school should be a fun, safe, clean place, because we spend a good chunk of our day here, from six to eight hours, and as an athlete, I spend up to 10 hours here some days. Kids should want to come to school and be proud of what their school looks like.
I have found myself wanting to come to school more because it is no longer a dark, depressing building. The teachers don’t have to worry about a leaking roof and leaking pipes.
I wish we could have started rebuilding our older schools sooner and had no arguments over the bonds because when a couple of earlier Highline bonds failed, that put us in a big delay. Evergreen and Tyee deserve newer, safer school buildings also.
For athletics, when you get a new building, it changes your image. It boosts confidence. I do think the building has an impact on that. It is no longer the run-down old school, where the roof leaks and the power goes out during a game. It was nice to play in a big college-like gym.
I’ve enjoyed the amount of natural lighting with the big windows. The old school was very dark and gloomy, so I like the openness of this one.
The chemistry and bio rooms are definitely nice because in our old science classrooms, our seats were the lab stations, so we had to move all our stuff. Now we can have all our labs all set up and go back to where we take a lecture, then go back to the lab station to do our lab work.
I love the outdoor areas at the new Highline High School. They planted those purple flowers and fresh grass. I like the courtyards: the west one is outside the cafeteria and the south courtyard has basketball hoops which the kids use all the time."
—Karis Gran, Highline High School Class of 2022
Karis is joining the U.S. Navy and starts basic training this summer. She hopes to study nursing through the Navy. She participated in track and field, and played basketball and soccer for the Pirates.
