Post date: Jan 22, 2018 2:08:18 PM
The Fountain of Decay
By Brayden Foust
“What might improve the student experience?” says National Honor society sponsor Mrs. Allen. This quote sums up the main goal of NHS - the betterment of Kirksville Senior High School. Recently, the idea struck member Brittany Buchanan to replace the fountain in the courtyard for this very purpose.
Both Brittany and Richard Ma, president of Student Council, talked about how NHS and STUCO are teaming up to try and remove the fountain. Buchanan, as a member of the Committee of Public Relations in NHS, is in the process of communicating with Mr. Mikel regarding the practicality of removing the fountain.
Richard, along with the rest of STUCO, is mostly concerned with the replacement of the fountain. The main question is what actually could replace it. They have a few ideas. A mosaic could possibly replace it, but more interesting was this concept Richard brought up about collaborating with the students of KHS.
An idea they were tossing around was talking to the art teachers to see if each student in the art classes could contribute a tile similar to the mosaic on the walls of the old art building. Also, a metal sculpture created by the students was a possible replacement option as well. These options would eliminate the primary issue relating to removing and replacing the fountain - money.
Almost everyone interviewed (Brittany Buchanan, Richard Ma, Miles Krusniak, and Mr. Mikel) said the fountain is an eye-sore, but it did not always use to be that way. According to Mrs. Mulford, “I think most people thought it was beautiful and it was especially beautiful in the winter when the water froze.”
Mr. Mikel was able to add a wrinkle to the story when he explained that the fountain started to leak. It became a safety hazard because it was a four-tiered fountain and the concrete started to erode over time. The fountain actually was removed except the base because it is attached to the concrete and would have been too expensive to remove.
Mikel and Buchanan also commented on how it has become a bit of a safety hazard in a new way. “It’s really a hazard because little kids, and even kids in high school play in it, jump in it, walk around the rim of it, so I would advocate at least getting rid of it.”
It appears pretty much everyone is onboard with getting rid of the fountain, so why has it not already been removed. When asked about what prevents the school from replacing it, Miles Krusniak said, “It’s really expensive.” Almost everyone else said the same.
Mr. Mikel talked about how it is not just removing the fountain and all of the accompanying wires and everything else connected to it, but the cost of whatever is going to replace it. The district administration would have to allow for payment of the removal of the fountain and whatever would replace it. When asked if there had been any official support of this project from district officials above him, Mr. Mikel said, “No because the last thing I heard was that it was going to be too expensive to do what they wanted to do.” He also mentioned that the original plan was to redo the entire courtyard to be more similar to the middle school’s entrance.
One other thing Ma and Mikel both mentioned was the communication issue. Ma mentioned it was difficult for STUCO and NHS to communicate back and forth. Mikel also talked about how it was hard for all these different groups of people to share ideas.
This makes sense as - and this is mere speculation - that STUCO, NHS, the administration, and Mr. Mikel would all probably have a difficult time managing a project that does not claim the title of priority No. 1.
This ties into the main takeaway from this though, NHS, as well as the rest of the organizations involved with the school, goes to great lengths to make the school better. These interviews and looking into what it takes to even approve a topic as seemingly simple in nature as this one is eye opening and allows for a greater appreciation of the effort put into making the experience at KHS just a little better for everyone.