Renovations Give Modern Look to Sixty-Year-Old Science Rooms

The renovation plans have finally moved into action, upgrading many outdated parts of the high school, and due to COVID-19 and the school shut down, the construction team has gotten a head-start.

According to the Master Facilities Plan found on the HUHS school website, these renovation plans were originally sent to begin in June of 2020. With a little bit of a gamble, the construction crew was called in almost right after the school was shut down. Betting correctly, the production continued until the beginning of this new school year, with some renovations still underway currently.

The renovations inside of the high school consisted of a complete renovation of a bathroom near the front lobby, a new culinary lab and classroom, all ten of the science labs were remodeled, a new commons space in the science hallway, and the movement of the student service and district offices into the new space near the front entrance where East Commons used to be.

Where the old offices were, across the main hallway from the small gym, is the new Fitness and Wellness center with new equipment and a larger space for the athletic teams and gym classes to use.

Change was long overdue as the Ovation released by the Hartford Union High School district in the Spring of 2020 recalls the age of the HUHS facilities.

“These bathrooms were built in 1958 with the original construction of the building,” the district states in the Ovation.” In order to provide adequate facilities our students deserve, we have to face those challenges and invest in the building’s future to provide facilities for our students.”

The science rooms have also not been revamped in decades, in need of new spaces and equipment to hold and perform proper labs.

Teacher Michael Yohn, who teaches different physics and engineering classes, is happy to have the upgrades, especially the added storage.

“We have a lot of stuff in science. We need a lot of places to put it, and we were definitely running out of places. If you’re a teacher and you have a lot of lab supplies and you don’t have places to put those lab supplies away, you just end up with a lot of stuff sitting out everywhere and it can get to be a pain to try to find things,” Yohn said. “The more clutter in your life, the harder it is to manage. I think that's probably the biggest and best changes.”

Superintendent Jeff Walters agrees that it was time for things to be remodeled.

“Our board is committed to providing the best high school experience possible to our students,” Walters said. “The spaces renovated to this point address some of our most dated areas that needed to be brought up to the standards we desire and expect.”

These renovations were just the first phase in the two phase plan proposed last March to the Board of Education.

The next phase will see upgrades and improvements to the outdated drama lecture hall, library, and the cafeteria. They will also be looking for a way to create a multi-purpose space in an effort to utilize more of the fieldhouse.

Walters is looking forward to using these renovations to help push Hartford Union High School to further improvements.

“I'm excited about all of the work we are doing to make HUHS a destination district, and look forward to our students and staff benefiting from our board's commitment to excellence,” Walters said.