As students of Lake Shore we must be grateful for what we have, because other high schools are not as fortunate as ours when it comes to hardware, construction, and other maintenance issues. However, there is not a problem with realizing these issues when it comes to our school.

For starters, the desks that can range from five to 20+ years old. While they do their job, it can be noted that some desks have less space than others, which makes it hard for students to keep their Chromebooks and other materials on them without it feeling uncomfortable. 

It can be suggested that flexible seating such as cushions, stand-up desks, fidget seats and other alternative seating can replace these old little desks to allow for more creativity for students’ minds to flow as they are in class. With Covid-19 not being as bad as it was last year, hopefully we can go back to achieving this goal.

Another issue in Lake Shore is the general construction of the building. You may walk around and see little things on the wall that look like rulers, which are to mark cracks in the building. With these cracks comes other issues like the north side of the top floor slowly coming down, noted to me by another teacher. If you look at some ceiling tiles, you may notice the coffee-colored stains caused by leaking from a flat roof, which is just a problem because of the school being built a while ago.

Luckily, Vice Principal Todd Stevens noted that the company working for Lake Shore is constantly looking out for and brainstorming how to fix these problems. When it comes to the north side of the top floor coming down, he stated, “We have structural engineers who come out,” who are there to observe the ongoing issue. They have recently also added new access points for WIFI to strengthen connection for our public access.

Stevens also added that to perform these more major renovations, we will need a bond or general fund money. Bond money comes from voters who approve it which can only be used for facility things, while general fund money comes from the state. General fund money can be used for anything. The last bond passed was when we received our Chromebooks, about six years ago.

Other issues include the multi-legged critters and earwigs wandering the floors and the infamous bathroom issues.

One more I’d like the highlight is the scoreboard on the field. While many teachers and students can argue this could have gone to a better fund, Stevens also noted that it is great for advertising, and, “If they wanted to run a commercial ad during halftime at a football game or a soccer game it would be great.” This allows for extra revenue to flow in. He also mentioned that speculated movie nights could be broadcasted on the scoreboard, so there are good things that came out of what we assume to be as “just a scoreboard.”

As a whole of the student body, many of us have observed each point made. The custodians and construction workers of Lake Shore generally know much about our struggles, disgust, or general displeasure with the components of the school, and slowly but surely, they are fixing each apparent problem one project at a time.