Winter’s just around the corner, and the campus has already experienced some harsh storms.
On rainy days, I arrive at school and throw my backpack in one of the only dry spots in the high-school campus: under the library awning. Because everyone else’s backpacks are thrown there, I later climb over other backpacks to get to mine.

I dodge droplets as I continue to my soaked locker. The water leaks through the awning and into the slits.

The school should build better awnings above the lockers in order to prevent books from getting wet and to provide more dry spots to mingle.

When the first class begins, I grab my books and navigate through huge puddles of water. According to headmaster Stephen Repsher, the drainage system most likely has bark, leaves, and debris stuck in the drains.

Latin teacher Jane Batarseh’s room has a leak in the upper right corner of the door. On rainy days, rain “pours down and soaks into the rug,” Batarseh said.

“They put something like Febreze on it in order to kill the odor and mold,” she said.
Even more problems occur during lunch and free periods.

At the beginning of lunch, I rush to the lunchroom and am forced to wait outside for 10 minutes in the pouring rain. Then I grab my food and run back to the high-school quad. Staring at my wet food, I wonder where to eat.

Eating is not permitted in the library. Thus I must find refuge in some classroom.

“Food brings bugs, and bugs and books do not mix well. Also, liquids by the computers are not good,” librarian Joanne Melinson said.

If the high school moves to Newton Booth next year, the lockers will be inside. According to Sue Nellis, head of high school, you can get to every class without going outside (except for art). We would no longer have to walk through puddles and hide our books under our jackets just to get from math to history.

Unfortunately, lunch would still be a problem. According to Nellis, there is no room for a cafeteria on the first floor, and the school won’t use the second story next year. There will be benches in the hallways, but the main seating area will be in an outside quad. We would still have to wait outside in the rain and eat lunch in classrooms.

The rainy season is upon us, and a solution is not forthcoming.