The STEM building was a long awaited amenity for students and teachers alike. Despite this, once opened to the school, the inside of the building was declared as off limits for all students.
Many of Aliso Niguel High School’s students were mystified by the closing of the interior of the STEM building. A common sentiment of confusion is shared even by myself. Many believe that their promised building had been wrongfully taken away from them. In order to understand why the inside of the building was closed, I talked to Ms. Zhou.
Ms. Zhou is a Chemistry teacher who has been teaching in the Chemistry building for nearly her entire time at Aliso Niguel High School. Only during online schooling did she teach in a portable. This year, Ms. Zhou teaches Honors and CP Chemistry.
When asked about the functionality of the building for students, she gave a surprising answer. Ms. Zhou said the interior lobby is actually used by students, despite it seemingly always being locked. She said, “[for] performances, the acoustics of that room is really really nice… so that choir can do performances in there.”
This answer took me by surprise. Myself and many other students likely have no clue that the sparsely furnished and seemingly empty insides of the STEM building are actually used by Aliso Niguel’s Choir students.
Mrs Zhou would go on to explain that because of the acoustics in the room, when administrators from the district visited Aliso Niguel, the interior was also used to host them.
The Science Building seems to have more purpose than many know of.
Ms. Zhou would go on to explain that due to the rampant trashing of the interior by students, an extreme ant and rodent problem began in the new STEM building. Currently, the interior is only open to teachers during lunch, off limits for all students.
However Ms. Zhou left me with a message of hope for future use of the entire STEM building. Ms. Zhou said that the reason students are not allowed in the building is that the building is without security. She said students would be allowed inside but, “they don’t have cameras in there yet.”
It seems that opening the STEM building is on the agenda for the school, but they require the proper funding before it happens, in order to properly watch over the room. Once surveillance is installed, Ms. Zhou believes that the building will be fully opened to both faculty and students at Aliso.
The interior is a nice amenity, but the STEM building was made with the primary purpose of enhancing student’s learning experiences.
The STEM building opened for student use nearly three years ago. The building aims to provide teachers aid in teaching their students with accessories not found within the average classroom.
Specifically geared towards teaching Chemistry, the building holds accessories that many would not normally notice, but are crucial to the teaching of science. Specified lab stations, electrical outlets, and fireproof countertops are some of the items found within the science building’s specialized classes. In practice, the day to day use of the STEM building was worth the wait and cost, at least for teachers.
An enhanced lab experience is important for many, as it demonstrates the concepts of Chemistry in real time. However, the building is not without flaws. Within all the classes, a noticeable echo is observed.
Austin Lee (10) is a sophomore this year. As required by the school, Austin had to take a STEM class this year. The STEM he chose was AP Chemistry with Mrs. Roche in the STEM building. It is imperative that the room gives him the best learning environment possible, in order for him to understand the tough concepts presented by an AP class.
Austin speaks about the echo saying, “it’s a little echoey, the stairs piss me off sometimes…she uses a microphone and projects her voice really well around the class.”
Most students, such as Austin, can learn to ignore the echo over time, as teachers use microphones in order to increase the volume of their voice nullifying the downsides of such a large classroom.
The long awaited STEM building has left many students confused and frustrated, as they felt the school had promised them something, only to take it away. But it seems that the interior of the STEM building does serve a purpose for Aliso’s students that many are unaware of. Most importantly, the STEM building provides Aliso Niguel High School students an improved way of learning STEM through the specialized learning environment of every classroom. The STEM building is not a waste of space on campus, rather it is a crucial part of the teaching that happens at Aliso Niguel High School.
