Every month visitors from throughout the nation and across the world visit Jefferson to see what a model American high school is like. This month, high school principals, students from four high schools in Japan, and an Iraqi delegation came to Jefferson. What our visitors must quickly realize is that this “model high school “ is about a lot more than the physical plant.
Despite the challenges posed by our not so ideal building, our students manage to succeed. We’ve learned to navigate through the Jefferson obstacle course. Have you seen the classic movie, “Apollo 13?” A day here can be an exercise in finding common sense solutions – and we’re not talking about our course content. The first of the challenges faced each day is figuring out what the heck is being said on the morning announcements. Sometimes the audio is muffled, and sometimes it isn’t working at all. If you’re lucky enough to hear and understand the announcements, that in itself is an accomplishment.
The bathrooms at our school are particularly problematic. The girls’ bathroom upstairs with the broken locks is by far the most infamous. No wait, maybe it’s the one near the cafeteria where an entire stall door fell off its hinges? Either way, you get what we’re saying.
It’s almost comical how you can experience all the seasons in one day at Jefferson. You just have to walk from one classroom to another. On any given day, the temperature in one classroom will be miserably hot and another room just down the hallway will be full of shivering students.
The beauty of the entire situation is it just shows that Jefferson students and teachers are indeed problem solvers. If there’s a gaping hole with a leak in the ceiling, we just put a bucket under it. Broken window? No problem, just cover it with aluminum foil.
We think we’ve done pretty well as a school to overcome the day to day challenges posed by our building.
Now there is just one thing left to say. Bring on the renovation!
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