THREE RIVERS AREA — Students and teachers at Cabot Junior High North have been passing it on their way to class for more than two weeks now.
Some don't pay it much attention. Some might not want to. But in the midst of a new facility with all the trimmings, including that new-school smell, the plaque that was recovered from the old junior high after it burned to the ground in 2006 is a reminder of the trial the community faced - and how it responded.
The journey of the last three years saw an entire group of students - seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders - attend junior high in temporary structures. Instead of catching up with friends in the halls between classes, CJHN students got to face the weather de jour as they shuffled outside from one building to the next.
Principal Georgia Chastain, who had just finished her first year as principal of the school when it burned,said considering all the adjustments, the students "seemed to do really well.
Academically and behavior wise, they really rose to the occasion."
As the junior high was rebuilt, students had to move to trailers on the high school campus to attend class.
"There were 3,000 kids on that campus," Chastain said, "and if it wasn't for the good kids of Cabot, that wouldn't have worked." But gone are the days of Chastain and her staff making sure the junior high students stayed separate from the older students at the high school. Nowadays the students are figuring out all the educational opportunities that the new building offers. From the state-of-the-art science labs and band/choir rooms to a surround-sound system that allows teachers to speak into a small microphone so that they can speak at a normal volume and be heard by everyone in the classroom.
Two ninth-graders said it's been an adjustment being in the new building, but it's one they welcome.
"It's kind of weird not being in trailers," Hannah Boyette said.
Her classmate Tyler Keck pointed out, "It's a lot dryer."
Students have pointed out their satisfaction with another feature at school, and it's one that surprised Chastain.
"The kids like the new, clean bathrooms," she said.
Proudly featuring Cabot's red, white and black colors throughout, the staff and students have taken a posture of gratitude toward their new daytime home.
"We see this as a gift from the community, the school board and the district," Chastain said.
"So we want to take care of it."
One of the ways they're doing that is by keeping the facility as clean as possible. In the cafeteria, which Chastain said was the biggest dining facility in the city and has already played host to a couple of community events, students are not allowed to leave from lunch until their chairs are pushed back under their respective tables and the area in which they were sitting is completely clean.
Chastain said the last three years have felt like creating a new school every year.
"And here we are, we've created a new school this year," she said. "But this one will last for a good long while." - jlemaster@arkansasonline.com
Three Rivers, Pages 57, 58 on 09/03/2009