What would you do if you could change the school? 

I went around and interviewed as many people as I could around Arapahoe High School, from freshmen to seniors. My goal was to get information from students with their concerns and opinions on Arapahoe, as well as what they would do if they could change the school. They thought about what they could change by exploring different aspects such as teachers and staff, the different types of classes and how they’re formulated, the effect on mental health, and the types of clubs and activities that Arapahoe offers.

The first topic I asked students about was what they believed the school needed work on. The main issue that was brought up the most was the impact of mental health. The majority of students interviewed believe that they’re mental health is impacted by school because of the amount of work they receive from their classes. They believe that the workload is overwhelming, especially with trying to get accepted into college as seniors. Others expressed concerns that when they look for help from the school, there aren’t many options to look to because of past experiences. On top of it all, some students don’t get along with each other outside and inside of school, and at the end of the day, many warriors feel vulnerable and lost.

Other issues include some students believing the scheduling system isn’t the best and would prefer to go back to the old schedule patterns, other students have some criticisms towards certain teachers or the curriculum of classes that they’re in, and others have more personal issues. 

All hope shouldn’t be lost however, because the school also succeeds at certain things in students’ eyes. The large majority of people agree that teachers do a good job at making sure students are learning and are engaged in their classes. Obviously school work is tiring and generally nobody thinks that going through lectures is the most entertaining thing to do, but teachers at Arapahoe appear to have good reputations for most students. Generally there have been little to no complaints towards the teachers as far as educational performance goes, and the school also succeeds at having a wide variety of classes to take and clubs to participate in, which can help students feel more entertained as they learn what they enjoy.

The final topic is what students would do if they could change the issues of the school to the best of their abilities, given that they have unlimited resources and little to no limits. The majority say that they would hire more young school professionals that can relate to students since they aren’t too far apart age wise. Others would try to implement different supplies and furniture to make the school environment more comfortable. Different programs could be implemented that focus on student’s mental health outside of school as well that could make students feel included and isn’t tiring.

So to sum up the main points, the teachers are well trained educationally, there’s a wide variety of classes and clubs to take so that students can feel more involved with what they enjoy doing, and so far the most major issue is the mental health aspect of it all. The school is also seen to be in a nice and comfortable location, with different restaurants surrounding the school and nice green scenery. The things that students would change to better the community are to hire more trained, young mental health professionals, and to keep up with the variety of classes and school spirit that the school has.