It was yet another beautiful day in the high 70s spent inside a classroom with the air conditioning on full blast. I stared at the whiteboard in sheer boredom, wishing the minutes would go by faster. My thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a loud bang on the roof, and a soft click as the power went out.
After a miserable hour of the teacher complaining and sending angry emails to the administration, we were released two hours early due to the outage and the failing internet.
As much as I wanted to be out of class, it left me more annoyed than relieved.
This was not the first time the construction happening on the roof had disrupted what was happening below. The 2024 APUSH exam created a sense of impending doom among students and the noise made it practically unbearable. It was difficult to piece together the five second intervals of instruction we were given by the proctor in between drilling and hammering sounds from above.
According to Alex Fox, the Interim Principal, holes were being drilled into the ceiling during the exam last year to prepare for the installation of solar panels. The panels are reportedly installed completely.
Fox also stated the power outage during summer school was due to general roof repairs, such as the leaks in the music hallway.
He stated the idea was to get the repairs done during the summer so they would be done before the school year started. However, this still impacted the students who took summer school and created audible distractions for anyone below the hammering trying to hear themselves think.
Most of the upperclassmen at EHS can surely shake off the inconvenience, but for a lot of freshmen, this disturbance and unplanned dismissal was their introduction to the school.
The ongoing construction displayed a certain unprofessionalism which caused quite an annoyance for people trying to be productive in the building. This lack of organization leaves a rather sloppy impression on the incoming students and the incessant noises and issues caused by the construction will not soon be forgotten.
Each summer, many incoming freshmen take summer school to familiarize themselves with the building and adjust to the environment. This year, they opened the front doors to technical issues and construction problems that could’ve been easily avoided if they had been moved.
Summer school release times have varied in the past, but students were let out this year at 12:40pm, leaving half a day left to get construction and other housekeeping tasks finished.
The two weeks before and after summer school classes started and ended could’ve also been utilized to keep the school environment productive.
Summer school classes are a quick and easy way to get a class done so it doesn’t take up room in your schedule, so a lot must be jam-packed into three-to-six weeks.
This power outage, meaning no lights, internet or AC, meant about three days of content was completely missed the day of the early dismissal.
Due to the specific planning of summer school, my teacher, as well as many others, skipped an entire chapter and didn’t go back because unlike snow days, extra days cannot just be added at the end of the three-to-six weeks.
Freshman and seniors alike were scrambling to make up and retain the information missed, especially if there was a final project to throw together in the weeks to come.
During the last couple of days left of school, my class was moved to another classroom in the new hallway. The air conditioning had still not returned to the hallway we were stationed in, and our teacher had grown tired of dragging various fans into the classroom.
Between the power outage, the constant banging, drilling and yelling right above us and the awful heat of a crowded classroom with no air conditioning, summer school reached a new level of miserable.