With the end of the school year fast approaching, seniors are beginning to wrap up their final few units in class and prepare for graduation. In Composition II, taught by Tim Kaldahl, they have a final project to complete instead of doing a final test. After listening to what the students in the school want, two seniors, Joshua Vavra and Lukas Haake, have decided to make it their final project to try and get the courtyard more open for free use and enjoyment and to be used as a hallway like it is at Gretna East High School.
Just like any other big project, before beginning the process, Vavra and Haake needed to do entry-level research to see if this project was even worth pursuing and continuing. On March 25, Vavra and Haake sent out a school-wide poll to test interest with students in the school.
“We sent out that poll about other people wanting to use it, and other people feel the exact same way,” Haake said “They want to use it, and it’s just, like, sitting there.”
After seeing the results of the survey, Vavra and Haake decided to accept the challenge and take the next step towards opening up the courtyard. Vavra talked to Vice Principal Theresa Huttmann and Haake talked to Principal Todd Mueller.
“She’s (Huttmann) 100% on board with the idea; she been on board with it in the past,” Vavra said. “Our goal is to finally secure a plan. She’d be 100% on board in getting them set up if we are able to get cameras out there, and that’s our roadblock right now.”
Currently, putting cameras into the courtyard would be a $20,000- $25,000 process. They have to be durable and weather-resistant enough to survive a Nebraska storm. Then there is the labor of installing them and hooking up the cameras to the rest of the building. Even after they would be set up, the school would then have to maintain around five to six new cameras, which adds to the growing cost.
“I mean they (cameras) are super expensive, and then you have to have somebody to install them, and then they have to be looped into our system. So it’s like a process. So, like, when we ask for new cameras in the hallways, it’s a year-long process,” Huttmann said.
Students will continue to push for what they want and to actually have a say in what happens in the school. Even though this yearly petition of change might not happen, there is always the hope that the change that the students want will happen next year. Sophomore Bri Wegner has the same belief that first launched Vavra and Haake into the project.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Wegner said. “I think a lot of people would benefit from it, because (you have access to) like fresh air during the day, and it’s good for you, and I think it would make students happier if we went outside during the day.”
