Students at Pleasant Valley have long set the standard for excellence in academic performance, but their future growth at the high school may be limited. Clubs, sports, classes and other organizations at PVHS offer a multitude of opportunities for students, but sustainability of growth for these programs has been brought into question with recent facitility-based concerns.
PV offers over 50 recognized clubs and extracurricular activities. Many of these clubs meet regularly, some supporting over 75 members. As students have the opportunity to start their own sponsored clubs, the opportunities continue to grow. Student clubs such as Duck Bowl, Hydration Club and the Gray Matters Collective are all new to PV this school year.
The rapid growth of extracurricular involvement raises a significant problem: space.
Full classrooms have prompted an addition of another tower, currently under construction. Every room in the building is occupied either by people or storage. Finding space to host any group of people is a challenge for student organizations. Maybe the new addition is a step in the right direction.
Student initiatives Model UN and Spartan Assembly have to share weekday mornings in the library as it is the only space available. The PV Track and Field team struggles to find storage space for their hurdles. Spartan Assembly takes up some space in Spartan Drama’s limited loft storage for items like Student Hunger Drive buckets, Homecoming thrones, carnival games and extra shirts.
With new clubs being established every year, there is simply no space for clubs to continue meeting the PV standard.
Spartan Assembly Executive Brie Howell talked about the changes in meeting spaces for Spartan Assembly. “We used to have our own room and storage closets, but now teachers take up that room and we don’t have anywhere reliable to keep our things. Meeting in the library is fine, but going on a scavenger hunt around the building to find resources is inhibiting our efficiency,” Howell noted.
As the State Solo and Ensemble Festival approaches, music students are bustling aroundthe music department hall. Band, choir and orchestra students have a few shared spaces available to them for rehearsals.
This large music event allows students to create and rehearse their own small ensembles, duets and solos. Pleasant Valley is submitting over 150 music entries into this year’s festival. As these ensembles rehearse during school hours, students often fight to find practice spaces.
Junior Sophia Pomykala shared her frustration with the lack of rehearsal spaces for band. “I am performing a solo in a week and I really need to be able to practice it, but most of the practice rooms are taken up by choir kids and their accompanists, and there are never any open when I need one,” she said.
It wouldn’t be uncommon to find musicians playing in closets, offices or arguing over one of only six practice rooms. Students use window ledges and conductor podiums to prop up their music. Pleasant Valley is the highest ranking school in the state at this music festival, yet student musicians have to make do with makeshift spaces.
“Often the music directors accidentally double book some rehearsal spaces so multiple groups think that a room is theirs. That leaves one of the groups to go find somewhere else like the uniform room to rehearse,” Pomykala explained.
Some of the top performing programs at PV are restricted by the lack of resources available to them. Inadequate infrastructure is holding back student success. The opportunities available to students don’t seem to be on the decline, so the issue of space won’t be resolved anytime soon. The future accomplishments of PV students may be diminished if only temporary solutions are provided for the expanding organization base available to students.
