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CHS gets new look
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| Travis Creamer installs a bank of soda fountains Wednesday in the new standalone cafeteria at Columbia High School. Students will start to patronize the cafeteria next week. JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter |
School’s new cafeteria nearly complete; other construction keeps progressing
By TROY ROBERTS
troberts@lakecityreporter.com
Students at Columbia High School will have a new place to dine starting next week.
The new standalone food services building at the high school will open on Monday, providing students an updated cafeteria that will allow them to more efficiently move through their lunch periods and give school administrators a chance to
begin other expansion projects at the school.
The new cafeteria will be more than twice the size of the current one, said CHS Principal Terry Huddleston. The new
cafeteria will seat more than 500, compared to approximately 200 that the current one seats.
White floor tile is offset with purple and gold and a handful of flat-screen televisions adorn the walls, where students will be able to catch ESPN’s SportsCenter during their lunch break.
The food service side of the cafeteria has also been enhanced. Donna Coughlin, Columbia School District’s director of food services, said the new cafeteria provides for more capacity and better efficiency in getting
students their lunch, taking a page from the quick-paced fast-food industry.
“We’re dealing with a large number of customers in a short amount of time,” she said.
Increasing the number of serving lines from seven to 10, and located in two adjacent, side-by-side rooms, students will be able to walk up to a register, place an order and retrieve their food. Soda fountains will be located on the wall behind them, and condiment dispensers will be accessible on the outer walls of the cafeteria.
Students, however, shouldn’t expect any changes to their lunch schedule during the coming days, Huddleston said, but noted that schedules could change when students return from Christmas break.
This is just one of the many renovation projects currently under way at the home of the Fighting Tigers, as school and district officials expand and revitalize the 30-year-old school.
“Columbia High has grown in the number of students since it was built,” said superintendent Mike Millikin. “Because of that, we needed some space and needed to update the cafeteria, and we could get a two-for-one with the building of a standalone cafeteria.
“Not only did we get a state-of-the-art facility,” Millikin said, “but we’ll be able to remodel under the existing roof, a really cost efficient way to get new classrooms and rid ourselves of older portables that we really don’t need to use anymore.”
Classroom expansion
Much of the construction work focuses on expanding classrooms — the various projects will add approximately a dozen classrooms, and Huddleston hopes that this will be able to do away with all — or at the very least, most — of the portables utilized by the school. And at a much cheaper cost to tax payers, Huddleston said the average classroom costs around $200,000, while the dozen classrooms being renovated at the school will cost only a fraction of that.
The new front entrance to the school, which is on schedule to be completed and operational around Thanksgiving, expands the main office and guidance office, making both more accessible to school visitors. The new addition will add more than a dozen new offices, including those for Huddleston, assistant principals and guidance counselors, as well as a conference room, reception areas and a new, larger teacher’s lounge. It also breaks out of the closed-in feel of the high school, adding dozens of windows across the front to allow natural light into the school.
Because of the new additions — the new cafeteria and entrance — the rest of the school will see an overhaul.
The current cafeteria will be completely renovated — the raised area will be brought down to the level of the rest of the school, and the entire section will be converted into classrooms, an office for the School Resource Officers and new offices for senior guidance. The current site of the main office and principal’s office will also be renovated in the coming months to provide more classrooms.
Huddleston said he anticipates the construction on these projects to begin in the spring and being ready for the 2009-2010 school year.
The new standalone food services building at the high school will open on Monday, providing students an updated cafeteria that will allow them to more efficiently move through their lunch periods and give school administrators a chance to
begin other expansion projects at the school.
The new cafeteria will be more than twice the size of the current one, said CHS Principal Terry Huddleston. The new
cafeteria will seat more than 500, compared to approximately 200 that the current one seats.
White floor tile is offset with purple and gold and a handful of flat-screen televisions adorn the walls, where students will be able to catch ESPN’s SportsCenter during their lunch break.
The food service side of the cafeteria has also been enhanced. Donna Coughlin, Columbia School District’s director of food services, said the new cafeteria provides for more capacity and better efficiency in getting
students their lunch, taking a page from the quick-paced fast-food industry.
“We’re dealing with a large number of customers in a short amount of time,” she said.
Increasing the number of serving lines from seven to 10, and located in two adjacent, side-by-side rooms, students will be able to walk up to a register, place an order and retrieve their food. Soda fountains will be located on the wall behind them, and condiment dispensers will be accessible on the outer walls of the cafeteria.
Students, however, shouldn’t expect any changes to their lunch schedule during the coming days, Huddleston said, but noted that schedules could change when students return from Christmas break.
This is just one of the many renovation projects currently under way at the home of the Fighting Tigers, as school and district officials expand and revitalize the 30-year-old school.
“Columbia High has grown in the number of students since it was built,” said superintendent Mike Millikin. “Because of that, we needed some space and needed to update the cafeteria, and we could get a two-for-one with the building of a standalone cafeteria.
“Not only did we get a state-of-the-art facility,” Millikin said, “but we’ll be able to remodel under the existing roof, a really cost efficient way to get new classrooms and rid ourselves of older portables that we really don’t need to use anymore.”
Classroom expansion
Much of the construction work focuses on expanding classrooms — the various projects will add approximately a dozen classrooms, and Huddleston hopes that this will be able to do away with all — or at the very least, most — of the portables utilized by the school. And at a much cheaper cost to tax payers, Huddleston said the average classroom costs around $200,000, while the dozen classrooms being renovated at the school will cost only a fraction of that.
The new front entrance to the school, which is on schedule to be completed and operational around Thanksgiving, expands the main office and guidance office, making both more accessible to school visitors. The new addition will add more than a dozen new offices, including those for Huddleston, assistant principals and guidance counselors, as well as a conference room, reception areas and a new, larger teacher’s lounge. It also breaks out of the closed-in feel of the high school, adding dozens of windows across the front to allow natural light into the school.
Because of the new additions — the new cafeteria and entrance — the rest of the school will see an overhaul.
The current cafeteria will be completely renovated — the raised area will be brought down to the level of the rest of the school, and the entire section will be converted into classrooms, an office for the School Resource Officers and new offices for senior guidance. The current site of the main office and principal’s office will also be renovated in the coming months to provide more classrooms.
Huddleston said he anticipates the construction on these projects to begin in the spring and being ready for the 2009-2010 school year.
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