The Smoke Signal

By: Staff Writer Richard Zhou

The A-Wing will be converted into a flex room that will be available to students and teachers to use by early second semester.

A flex room is a room with movable tables and chairs and other equipment that can be used for many purposes and is easily adaptable. Teachers will be able to reserve the flex room for their class, and it will be open for students during lunch to study and socialize.

Besides rolling tables and chairs for different seating arrangements, the A-Wing flex room will also feature white dividers that can be used to partition the room, four flatscreen TV’s for watching videos or conducting demonstrations, two class sets of Chromebooks for students to use, and a floor-to-ceiling whiteboard on one wall.

The flexible furniture enables the room to be used for many different purposes to fit the needs of each class. A math class could use the wall-sized whiteboard to solve problems while a history class could use the TVs to watch a documentary or to view presentations. Classes could also use the rolling furniture and Chromebooks for group projects or research.

The flex room, which has been in the works since the beginning of 2015, will be funded through MPPFA donations. While all the furniture has already been ordered, the construction of the flex room will continue until late February. Teachers and students will be able to use the new flex room by March. The room will be open during lunch hours to help take pressure off the crowded library.

The room will very similar to the one already implemented at Hopkins Junior High School, with a few minor tweaks. “The advantage of doing this [the flex room] after them is that things they wish they could do differently, we can do,” said Principal Zack Larsen.

An important upgrade to our campus, the A-Wing flex room opens many opportunities for teachers and students alike to utilize the technology and resources that it will provide.