School needs a roof

My dream is to see myself out of high school — getting out as fast as I can. But I never had to think about the reality of high school being taken away from me.

At the beginning of this year, my junior year, my classmates were faced with the reality that our high school isn’t the safest environment for students to spend eight hours a day. Of course, the administration has done everything and anything that they could have done for their students, but nothing adds up to the money that we do not have. The roof of Columbia Falls High School is held on by rusted beams and steel plates; where it is only a matter of time before the entirety of the roof is deemed unsafe. 

    Columbia Falls High School is offering an opportunity for community members to come and see the state of the building and learn about the levy: April 23 at 7 p.m. The future of the high school lies in the hands of  community members, those who are willing to contribute all of what they can to help the future students at CFHS, and those who are currently attending. Additionally, there are spaces within the school that are being taken away from them due the roof conditions and construction. Such as Tamara Sundberg’s room, where students go when they need a safe space or just a space to escape from the classroom, and now that room is no longer available. 

    Although some of my fellow classmates have conjured thoughts of transferring to Glacier High School or even Bigfork High School, or enjoying the idea of online learning, there are many that simply cannot afford that option, or just don’t want to. The option is not open for the kids who don’t have transportation to a school that is 15 or more miles away, or the students who cannot afford to transfer schools. There are also the kids that simply cannot learn from a computer screen. 

My experience with online learning, as many can admit, was the furthest from beneficial. And if we haven’t learned already, remote learning doesn’t provide students with the proper education that they deserve.

Since entering high school, my dream, alike many others, has been seeing myself walk across the stage wearing a cap and gown. 

But along with that is experiencing high school, all four years, eight semesters, seven hundred and twenty days. Every kid has watched one of those “cheesy” all-time high school movies, and craved that experience. 

The spirit of homecoming week, planning a weekend hang out while walking down the hallway, and getting to fulfill every last day that we have of high school. It makes my heart sink at the thought of getting through three-quarters of my high school career, only to have the best part stripped away. 

Me and 162 other students are being stripped of the best part of high school: senior year. For some it’s their last year and they can’t wait to get out, for others it’s their time to shine living in the shoes of the adored upperclassmen. 

Either way, every single student deserves that experience.

Kianna Mitchell is a junior at Columbia Falls High School