“One Town, One Team” Is Finally “One School, One Campus” Again

By: Morgan Thomas | Opinion Editor

October 12, 2017

Tritons old and new flock to school for yet another year of classes, football games, late nights of homework, dances—  everything that San Clemente has to offer to its maturing youths. In many ways, this year is just like any other, but students have noticed a few big changes. This year, the two parts of the San Clemente High School campus, previously separated by the hill known for making freshman sweat profusely at the sight of it, have reunited once more. For years, the freshman have been isolated, trapped on upper campus, only getting a taste of the events taking place on the main campus. They were subjected to countless forms of abuse, sometimes being forced to walk up and down the infamous “Hill”  several times a day! Can you say “tragic”? However, thanks to the project that took most of last year and the entire summer to complete, the incoming freshmen class at San Clemente High School can say goodbye to hiking up the hill and hello to swimming through seas of teenagers all trying to find their way to various destinations.

All of this can seem quite overwhelming at first, especially for a student who has never experienced such a large campus with so many students. Freshman Sophie Wehr discussed the overwhelming feeling she first experienced when she stepped on campus the first day, “There were so many kids and they were all so big. I know that sounds cliche but I was so scared. I didn’t know where any of my classes were and I kept getting lost in the crowds of people.” Nonetheless, she didn’t seem too disappointed to have escaped the wrath of the infamous hill. “Even though I was late to my third period class, I’m glad I didn’t have to go up and down the hill all day in my new shoes,” she sighed, relieved.

Freshmen weren’t the only ones who were affected by the addition of the new building and the elimination of upper campus. Sophomore Ella Gardner recounted her scarring experiences with the hill, “I had to walk up that thing two times a day,” she complained. Exhausted at the thought of the trek up to upper campus, she continued, “I can’t believe my class was one year off from avoiding it entirely. [The freshmen] are so lucky.” Many of the sophomores seem disappointed that they were the last class to suffer, but they seem to be getting over that quickly as they learn about all the exciting perks of the new building.

Creating a stark contrast to the other buildings on campus that are sixty years old, the new building is equipped with the latest and greatest projectors, computers, and even a sound system that comes with microphones. One of the best bonuses are the wall to wall windows that gives students breathtaking views of the campus, the football field, and the ocean whenever they start to get bored and gaze longingly outside, yearning for the freedom that is just out of reach in the middle of a long lecture. A personal favorite for many at the Triton Times is the perfect view of the sunrise they get to see every morning in zero period. Senior Chloe Rudnicki exclaimed that “[the sunrise] is one of the things [she] looks forward to seeing most when [she] goes to class in the morning— well, besides Mr. Miller’s smiling face, of course!”

The new building has brought many different changes to the rest of the campus as well. Chloe Waugh weighed the pros and cons of the new campus layout, “It’s hard to have everyone in the school at one place now. The halls seem much more crowded and everything is a little more chaotic.” Overall, she believes the pros outweigh the cons, for “the school is finally together now and everyone feels like we’re united like it’s supposed to be,” resolving the issue that has affected the school and its students for a long time.

For years, San Clemente High School has paraded the motto, “One Town, One Team,” but for the first time in what feels like forever, we can finally say that we are once again “One School, One Campus.”