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| New Klein High School Main Entrance |
What is Klein High School?
Klein High School; the school I went to for the four years of my High School education which was under construction every day over the years. It was interesting to say the least. Every few weeks we had different routes to get from one building to another for our next class, often causing back-ups in the traffic of the hallways, making us look like a giant rookery of penguins huddling to keep warm. Eventually this led to some of the teachers every few weeks giving out a few tardy excuses because it got so bad. However, despite all of the hilarious nonsense the construction caused and the amount of class time we may have missed due to the extended time of class switching plus our tardy passes, I believe it also acts as a solid symbol for our community: growth.
This school, which opened in 1963
started out as a single building, but eventually grew into more of a college
campus than a high school which had 4 separate buildings that students needed
to travel to in order to get from class to class. The school had not had any
serious renovation until 2009, when construction first began. Along with it,
the population of the Klein and Spring areas grew exponentially, homes and
businesses popping up all over, and now, the school being renovated. Granted
from the outside it looks like a jail, it still serves the purpose in my eyes
as being a symbol of growth in our community, and the wonderful and bright
people it produces.
History of Klein High School
In
1849, German immigrant Adam Klein settled in the Klein area we know today and a
farming community emerged and began to thrive. The name “Klein Independent
School District” didn’t come into play until 1938 to honor Adam Klein. The
school, which was called Rural High #1, began with a total enrollment of 80
students but quickly reached 310 students by 1939. The following year on January 3rd, a fire destroyed the school and the students had to
relocate to a different location for the rest of the year (Klein Independent.)
On September 1, 1963, Klein High
School was opened on the corner of Stuebner Airline and Louetta. At this time,
the school had three main buildings: The Main Building, The Career Center, and
The Pavilion. They didn’t necessarily have these names back then, but that is
what the buildings were named when I went to Klein in my freshman year. Over
time, the school also added the Fine Arts Building, The Commons, The High Rise,
The Choir Building, and The Annex (Klein High.) So as you can see, the school
more or less became more like a mini college campus then a high school campus.
In 2009, the Main Building was torn down when construction began and the Annex
became the new Main Building until 2011. A new annex was built near Mittlestädt
Elementary School following the move of the Main Building. During this time,
the new 4 story Main Building was being constructed in place of where the old
Main Building once was. The Pavilion and Career Center were taken down in 2010
and construction of the Athletics/CTE Building Began. By the time I graduated
high school, the Main Building and Athletics/CTE Building were mostly complete,
but still required being connected on the sides with another ongoing
construction project. In this last year, the Fine Arts, Commons, High Rise, and
Choir Buildings were all taken down and replaced with a parking lot at the main
entrance to the school. The construction that was ongoing when I was there is
nearly complete, but is still blocked off and inaccessible.My Experience
It
was mid-day, the bell to end 1st period classes rang and I was the
first out of the building due to the proximity of the class room to the exit. I
began to walk to my next class in the Main Building, but the normal route that
I took to get to the class is blocked off for construction. I decide to take
another, longer route to my class only to find a group of people huddled up,
blocking the path. I walked up to investigate and see what is going on, and
that entrance was blocked as well. I guess the construction workers weren’t
really thinking when they blocked off this particular spot, because it blocked
all access to the main building except for a tiny passage in their makeshift
fencing allowing access into the area. Since the hole could only fit one person
at a time, we had to take turns going through. At first we were pretty
civilized, waiting our turns to get through; but then the rest of the crowd
from the Athletic Building arrived and turned the place into utter chaos.
People began to get impatient and pushed and shoved to try to get through so
that they could get out of the heat (It didn’t help that it was 90 degrees that
day.) Eventually this led to a full blown riot, or mosh pit if you will, of
people trying to get inside and then suddenly amidst the insanity someone
shouted “God bless construction!” at the top of his lungs. This made everyone
burst out into laughter and surprisingly calmed the crowd. But this got me
thinking; despite all of the insanity that the construction has caused, it
still shows that the school, as well as the community, is growing, even if it
means we hit a few bumps in the road here and there such as “The Legendary
Klein Mosh Pit of 2013.”
Works Cited
“Klein High School.” Klein High School. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.
“Klein Independent School District.” Klein Independent School District. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014
