After a month of school, students are benefiting from the new science wing.

Changes were focused around making the space more flexible so that the hallways could be utilized for learning.

“The most stand out feature is the work area in the hallway with tv monitors, the meter segments on the floor, and white board space,” Principal Moses Cheng said.

This versatility has proven especially beneficial in performing labs.

“I think it makes (labs) more fun and easier to do,” junior AP physics student Catherine Franch said.

Students are also appreciating the change in setting and space.

“It’s nice to have a new environment for labs and a bigger area to work with your peers,” senior AP chemistry student Vania Li said.

One of the major elements that has impacted the teaching and learning experience is fully functional equipment in all of the rooms.

“It’s the first time for everybody who’s been here that everything in their room works,” science division head Scott Albright said. “That sounds kind of funny, but when you think about a science teacher trying to teach a lab and they don’t have a complete set of sinks that work, or electricity, or gas jets, you have to change what you do and how you do it.”

In addition to the new equipment, chemistry teacher Anna Fulmer also believes that the layout of her new classroom benefits student collaboration.

“(The new layout promotes) a lot more thinking as a group,” Fulmer said. “I think it allows you to work closer with different people in the class that you might not have otherwise.”

Additional uses for the new wing may still be discovered as the school year continues.

“We can use this space in so many different ways that a traditional classroom can’t be used. We probably are just beginning to scratch the understanding of what we can do,” Albright said. “I’m excited to know what that growth looks like as we get used to our surroundings.”

These renovations give students the opportunity to learn in a modernized setting.  

“Technology and science is always producing changes,” Cheng said. “It’s nice to see that we have a facility that now is on par with that.”

Feedback for the wing has been positive.

“Everybody has walked in and has said ‘Wow.’ It’s such a dramatic change from where we ended the year last year to where we began this year,” Fulmer said.

The remodeling project has been named a 2016 Award of Distinction winner in the annual Invitational Exhibition of Educational Environments sponsored by the Illinois Association of School Board Service Associates.