Will Sleddens | Staff Writer for "The Mount"
This school year, hallways at the Mount seem fuller than ever. Elbows brushing elbows, pushing and shoving through the halls, and squeezing past others have become necessary tactics for making it to class on time. With a record enrollment of 233, Mount Michael staff and students are making changes to accommodate the larger student population.
This school year, hallways at the Mount seem fuller than ever. Elbows brushing elbows, pushing and shoving through the halls, and squeezing past others have become necessary tactics for making it to class on time. With a record enrollment of 233, Mount Michael staff and students are making changes to accommodate the larger student population.
Up by 16 students from last year, new classes, new staff,
new schedules, and even a new dorm room have been added to help fit new
students. “We've hired another guidance counselor, Mrs. Kunkel, and Mr.
Pritchard has become a full-time 7 day dean,” Head of School, Dr. Peters said. “We’re
big enough now that we need our own drama teacher, which is another job that
Mrs. Kunkel will be doing, and we've expanded our course offerings as a direct
result of more students.”
One issue that this population influx has created is lack
of space. A large boarding population has resulted in new arrangements to fi t
all students into rooms. A new dorm has been added on the four person floor, a
room that was previously the senior day student room. Additionally, two
sophomores have been moved to a dorm on the senior floor, and a few dorm rooms
that normally house two students are being used for three. Zach Hytrek and
Brian Kang, the two sophomores living on the senior floor, say they have mixed
feelings about their dorm location. “The internet sucks down here. Plus we
don’t get to have fun with our classmates on the sophomore floor,” Kang said.
Zach Hytrek looked at the upside of having these rooms: “These rooms are way
closer to the classrooms, and that’s nice.” He also said that on his first few
days on the floor, seniors would always ask why he was on the senior floor. “It
happened like 10 times a day!” Mount Michael’s classrooms are fuller this year
than in past years, too. The administration has had to work hard to make sure
that rooms were available for every course throughout the day. “I’m glad we
were able to fi t all of our classes into classrooms,” Peters said. “We thought
that we might have to get portables.” Mr. Mackeprang and Mrs. Raabe put a lot
into organizing these classes to fi t the school. “Logistics, that’s what the
job entails,” Mackeprang said. “Actually, fitting the classes into rooms was
the last thing we did. First, we had to work out the schedule. Some people
didn't get the classes they wanted, but it’ll never be perfect for everybody.
We've managed to make it work well for this year.”
Peters attributes part of the growth to the loss of last
year’s small senior class and gaining a new larger freshman class. He also said
that, ideally, he would like to see the population top out around 240 (approximately
60 in each class) so students should expect the population to grow.
With this future expansion, however, will come new
additions to Mount Michael. Ground was recently broken for a new garage near the
monastery, which will allow the old monastery garage to be converted into a new
weight room, and the weight room will be converted into classes and teacher
offices.
It’s clear that big changes are coming to Mount Michael.
With higher student populations comes the need for newer and better facilities
around campus. While the elbow banging and shoulder brushing might become slightly
irritating, it will be interesting to see the changes being made at the Mount
as the number of students continues to increase.
