Cleveland High School’s annual eighth grade night on Dec. 4 was a huge success, despite looking different from past years due to the impending remodel of the building.
Bridging the Gap Night aimed to address concerns regarding students being relocated to the Marshall campus next year, while providing the families of incoming freshmen with the usual information regarding academics, extracurricular activities, and athletics.
Over the course of four different sessions, families could go to different rooms to learn about topics such as band, art,woodshop, ninth grade academies, sports, and of course, the upcoming modernization project. The IB session was the most attended, followed by academies and the modernization sessions, according to Vice Principal Sean Murray.
The most commonly asked question during these sessions were about going out to see Marshall’s campus. Murray was initially considering holding the night at Marshall, but ultimately decided to keep it at Cleveland.
“I think it was important to make sure that the message was really clear, that the only thing changing is the building. Everything else that makes Cleveland a special place, the programming that we have, the staff, that’s all here and it’s just going to go down the road,” Murray said.
A majority of families were in support of the school remodel, as updates on a school that is over 100 years old are long overdue. However, transportation has proved to be an obstacle for some families.
“I guess it’s just kind of inconvenient. I do online school right now, and it sucks that when I go back to an in person school it won’t be the real school building,” Adelaide Newman said, a current eighth grader who will be attending Cleveland High School next year.
According to Google Maps, Marshall is about a 13 minute drive from Cleveland High School, or a 30 minute bus ride, not taking traffic into account. For many students living in the Sellwood area, this commute may be even longer, upwards of 50 minutes.
“I’ll be riding the bus, and I’m not looking forward to waking up,” Newman said.
Cleveland High School is currently working with TriMet on routes for next year. The school is also looking into putting on an open house in the spring not just for incoming freshmen, but for all Cleveland students to tour Marshall.
Despite the curiosity about the move and transportation, families otherwise had an overwhelming positive response to Bridging the Gap Night in general.
“One reason the night went so well was the amount of students we had there. We had students in almost every room talking about different programs,” Murray said.
Leadership students such as Tessa Silverman and Estelle Ranta spoke in the auditorium and helped keep the audience engaged.
“The auditorium was almost at full capacity. I think folks who got the message and showed up felt really good leaving,” Murray said.
While the Cleveland building will be missed, the spirit of the school will be sustained at the Marshall campus, and Bridging the Gap Night gave many families the reassurance they needed, as the school continues to work towards making this transition seamless.
