Wilson High - the environment

This week I started my shift at Wilson High in NW. I found it to be a very enjoyable place that I would not mind doing my student teaching at. It is probably one of the most diverse schools I have seen in the district so far. It is located in NW yet it sounds like they bring in students from all over the city. The student body is about 1,500 but is in quite a beautiful large old building. There is a definite advantage to having such an old building for a school. It provides an interesting environment that one can be proud of walking into everyday. The tall ceilings, old oak mill work and furniture, and large windows are just a few things that help a student bodies pride that come along with an old building. Yes the new high schools are supposedly less dingy since they are newer but often this is only true in our minds. The new schools are often windowless and uninspiring to be in. They even end up being just as dilapidated and sometimes more so since the materials used end up being so cheap. My teacher Ms. Huberman mentioned a renovation was in store for next year but hopefully this will not throw out many of the old beautiful craftsmanship and architectural details that exist in the building today. Unfortunately if you look at renovations of other schools like Wilson the outcome is usually negative due to lack of funding. Goodbye 12 ft. ceilings and inspiring old light fixtures hello office ceiling board and and cheap plastic office lights. Ms. Huberman who used to be a architectural preservationist has taken advantage of her luck of being in an old school and appreciates the fact. She proudly showed off her heavy oak chest of map drawers for the kids work and many other beautiful old oak pieces of furniture such as a piece form the library that double as a chest of drawers and magazine display shelf. He also pointed out the amount of natural light the room received thanks to it large windows. Ms. Huberman's enthusiasm about her surroundings reminded me of how lucky i was to be in a similar era high school when i was a student and how much it affected me. (especially in the art room)

Roger