Walnut Hills High School
Volume CVI, Issue 1
September 13, 2011
Welcome back Walnut Hills! The Renovation: An Overview Letter from the Editors Mia Manavalan, ’12 Tanner Walters, ‘12 Editor in Chief Senior Managing Editor
We’re back! While the rest of the school seems barely recognizable to some of the veteran students and teachers, the Chatterbox returns to its faithful newspaper format. But don’t gear up for a familiar face. Reflecting the renovation, the Chatterbox has made some changes. The publication is now supported by a class of 30 students, as well as the traditional after-school club. This allows us to produce eight print editions and eight online editions. We’ll be able to keep you up to date on current school news on a regular basis.
Schedule Mishaps Alina Tashjian, ‘14 Staff Writer This summer, chaos arose in the guidance office. Scheduling problems resulted due to the staggering number of students who enrolled during the summer. Therefore, the schedules had to be redone in order to put the new students in their classes. However, it was primarily a miscommunication error. There were many students this year that had to make multiple changes to their schedules. One of those students was sophomore Meredith Bailey. “I optioned for Spanish 1 and was put in French 1AA,” she says, “and although I had taken summer gym and my credits were fulfilled, I was put in gym again. Due to that I did not have a study [hall] first semester like I had specifically requested.”
English teachers Samantha Gerwe-Perkins and Dawn Wolfe serve as our advisors. We hope to maintain the reputation of the Chatterbox as a reliable reference to student life at Walnut Hills. In order to fund this endeavor, we need support from advertisers. Interested parties should contact sophomore Garret Oester, the business manager. Like the rest of the school, the Chatterbox is in a period of transition, but our goal remains the same: to serve as the voice of the Walnut Hills student body. Sincerely, Mia Manavalan & Tanner Walters Editor-in-Chief & Managing Editor
“The paper that was sent to all of the students in July was only meant to verify the classes, nothing was set yet,” guidance counselor Mr. Grueninger explained. “The students were to make the corrections and send them back so we could come out with the final schedules that were to be put on Powerschool.” When asked about the scheduling problems junior Austin Railey comments, “To be honest, schedules are never that crazy. It’s just us students have a tendency to overreact to things having to do with school in general. The schedules are just there to overreact to.” Although this year’s schedules seemed to have more errors, Mr. Grueninger assures things have been pretty normal so far. He also adds that for the next school year, optioning will be done in Powerschool–but will the problems that happened this summer be avoided?
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An artistic rendering of the new plaza. Photo credit: SHP Leading Design Garret Oester, ‘14 Business Manager In approximately three years, Walnut Hills High School will be housed in a state-of-the-art building which will provide an environment more suitable to the school’s renowned educational experience. The cost: 67 million dollars and three-and-a-half years of construction. The reward: a LEED Gold certified, eco-friendly building. (LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is certification system created by US Green Building Council to quantify the innovativeness and eco-friendliness of a building.) The building will feature new competition-sized athletic spaces, including a natatorium, a music wing with five classrooms that contains built-in sound systems, a music library and private offices for the teachers. A performance hall that seats 120 people will also be included. Essentially, the renovation of the existing space will bring the 1931 building up to the level of excellence that will be seen in the new construction. To allow the continued occupation of the existing buildings, the plan is split into multiple phases. By 2014 this project should be in completion– the North Wing and the new Academic Wing by next fall, and the new music and athletic spaces by January 2013. Illustration credit: JP Schmitz
However, all of the timelines are subject to change due to the nature of working on a building built in 1931. In fact, the first issue has already been discovered: the need to run an electrical conduit through several closets in the South Wing to provide the construction crews with power. Construction began on August 4, three months behind schedule because of issues in selecting a contractor. The project has many goals, one of them to unify the decor between the current and future buildings. The color scheme inside will be synchronized with black, cream, white and blue colors, and the spaces will use tile and poured solid surface flooring throughout the building. Most essentially, the architecture will remain classic and simple, similar to the Arts and Sciences Center completed in 1999. This year the Chatterbox will be bringing you another series of information on special and unknown areas of the future campus. This first article will highlight the Plaza, a long paved area that will run the entire length of the new construction and provide a place to relax after school. The next article will focus on the process of designing the building. Questions can be emailed to whhsrenovation@gmail.com.