When walking into the new commons at the high school, students will be surprised by the changes. After the recent renovation this past fall, many new additions have been added, like college-level tables and chairs. Dual enrollment students and extracurricular groups are already using the new favorite furniture. 

   Within the past month, new artwork has filled the upper walls of the room, and art done by fellow students in the art program is also now displayed. The room has a varying selection of Mountie-related colored decor, along with future college destinations that students have the option to choose.    

   Junior Jayden Hoffbauer, a dual enrollment student at Jackson College, finds the newly remodeled commons helpful for his school work.

   “I like the new chairs in the commons along with the artwork. It adds another cool feature to the school,” said Hoffbauer. 

   Most dual-enrolled students spend over an hour in the commons working on college work along with other classwork. The new commons provide a calm and work-friendly environment with the high workload colleges bring. 

 “The new chairs bring a new environment for studying students to be successful,” said Hoffbauer.

   With everything backed up due to COVID-19 outbreaks, some of the future updates to the commons have been postponed. Most recently, new college-level chairs were placed next to the wall connected to the library. With booth-like seating available and tables for these booths coming soon, the evolution of the commons is headed in a positive direction.

Overall, students’ reactions have been positive about the new changes.