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KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — Sophomore Michael Ramos calls the new Kodiak High School building beautiful.
"I like it because everything is covered," he said.
He was talking about the roof.
In the northern Philippine school where he came from five years ago, he said, the basketball court had no roof.
KHS started the spring semester earlier this month with a brand new look — classrooms, a library and workspaces. The sparkling new tower is part of the $80 million renovation project that was voted on by the community in 2009, with construction beginning May 2013.
The school isn't finished — that will happen in November of this year — but for now, the tower is fresh for students and instructors alike.
Most of the construction equipment was gone Friday and furniture and classroom supplies were already moved into classrooms.
On the second floor, there's a new library with a wide staircase designed to be a student hang out. The library is still walled off in and the bookshelves are close together.
When all of that is finished, the library will be bigger and more spread out. For now, it has room for tables, chairs and benches for students to use when studying.
"The school has a really, really nice look," said junior Joseph Beltran after four classes in the new facility. "It's definitely a change. I think it's for the best."
Beltran likes that the TVs are visible from every angle. There are wall-sized white boards, large windows, no carpets to get stained and comfortable furniture. He also likes the dedicated study rooms and the common areas on every floor.
Beltran said the desks have no distracting graffiti and the lack of clutter makes it easier to concentrate.
One of the most beautiful parts of each floor is a colorful mural decorating the bathroom entrances.
Gray tree trunks with colored glass pieces behind them continue up all four floors with different colors on each floor. It was designed by students and incorporates Alutiiq petroglyphs on the tree trunks.
Heading up the stairs, the windows on each floor also have colored glass pieces in the panes. These are in a curving design, meant to mimic the northern lights, said Destiny Fitzgerald, the school district's communications coordinator.
Each floor has an identical layout. Classrooms are grouped around a common area with tables, chairs and low benches. All of the classrooms open onto the common area, meant for student collaboration and work.
Each floor has a separate room for instructor workspace. In the new tower area, teachers won't have traditional desks in their classrooms, but will use rolling podiums.
The workspace will give teachers a place to keep their things, work and collaborate with other instructors, Fitzgerald said.
Elmer Halili, 25, simplified the significance of the new building as he mopped the new building's glossy floor Tuesday evening.
"This nice building is more presentable. It will encourage students to study better," he said.
The new tower will give many existing instructors new space. There are labs, music rooms and art rooms.
For now, an existing part of the school blocks part of the impressive view from the top floor, but at the end of construction, that will be gone, providing a view to Near Island and beyond.
With the tower done, the next phases of the project can begin.
"Now they've started into the renovation of the cafeteria, library and balcony section and the other parts," said Bob Tucker, the Kodiak Island Borough engineering and facilities department director, at a Dec. 30 KIB assembly work session.
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Information from: Kodiak (Alaska) Daily Mirror, http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com
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