Last December, western areas of the campus were closed for construction, including the Emperor Avenue entrance, the portables and the pool.
“We are aware of the increased traffic on Lemon,” Principal Dr. Jennifer Lashier said. “However, we need to account for student safety, and having students walk through these construction sites poses a threat to their safety. It’s inconvenient, but safety comes first.”
Unfortunately, construction in these areas have caused complications for a portion of the student body. Those who formerly walked through the Emperor Ave entrance now must enter through Lemon or Temple City, causing increased traffic on the already heavily traveled route on Lemon.
“I have to wake up almost ten minutes earlier in order to make it to school on time,” Senior Giovanni Guajardo said. “On the days I’m running slightly late I end up being super late because I have to walk around the whole school to get to my first period class.”
This construction not only causes traffic around the high school but also interferes with several sports such as swim and softball. The swim team currently practices at the Rosemead Aquatic Center. However, as many teams use the same pool, the team is only able to swim from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
“Since construction started, we’ve been practicing behind the baseball field,” Junior Jaeleen Mendoza said. “We haven’t been able to work on some things necessary for the upcoming season but we’re still doing everything we can to improve individually and as a team.”
Due to these areas closing, namely the pool area, cyclists now must park their bikes by the portables. This parking area will be upgraded to be more secure and will eventually become the permanent bike area and the previous lot torn down.
“When I found out about the bike lot being moved, I just thought about how awfully inconvenient it would be to walk my bike through a crowd of students to the back of the school,” Senior Derek Nguyen said. “But now I’ve realized walking through the crowd of students, wearing my helmet with my bike by my side is kind of showing off my abilities and committment to tackle a rigorous early morning workout on the way to school.”
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