Rain and Ruin

During the month of August, before the start of the 2024-2025 school year, the school was hit once again with a flood which destroyed the gym floor. This caused a multitude of problems for sports and other school events. The last flood occured on August 29 2021, and the seniors, who were rising freshmen then, experienced Hurricane Ida’s destruction of the entire first floor of the school.

The seniors are affected by this incident the most because of the fact that they are graduating this year and it takes them back to when they were freshman and had no gym. Senior Daniel Hussein says, “I think it affects us because we don’t get to experience our last high school gym class as seniors and it prevents us from getting energy out and staying somewhat active.”

Another look at this is that one of our annual events, the Homecoming Dance is coming up soon and questions are up in the air, with students wondering if it is still happening or if the event will be cancelled. Katerina Romanides ’25 has major concerns about the event, stating, “It’s supposed to be our last homecoming and the fact that it might be ruined is upsetting. Hopefully that won’t be the case.” 

Gym classes have also taken a hit, with indoor sessions forced into the Little Theater. While we’ve had relatively good weather so classes can go outside, being dependent on mother nature has its drawbacks. Senior Emma Vasquez says, “The most inconvenient thing would be having to go outside for gym since it’s so hot and most people aren’t wearing shorts or short sleeves.” 

The volleyball team in particular has faced displacement during the fall sports season. Their practices and games are currently held at the middle school. “I wish we could’ve been able to be in the gym,” states Zahira Feliz, sophomore on the volleyball team, “We try to [contain] our emotions as students but it’s not easy when you have unhappy students who wish they were at their own school practicing in the gym for sports, going to gym class, hoping that this incident does not delay any events that are coming up in the future.”

This latest flood has also destroyed the science wing. Dr. Lee, a veteran science teacher, says, “Of course I miss my place because I can’t do a lot of chemistry experiments in these rooms. There are limited amounts of space” in regular classrooms.

We can only hope that this gym disaster gets sorted out quickly and have things get back to the way they should be.