In January 2025 Torrington High School is making the big move into the brand new four-story school building, everyone seems to be static for the move… except those who want to keep the school spirit up of course. It seems like there will be an extreme decline in school events and extracurricular activities, specifically pep rallies, club meets, and home sports games.
It’s important to understand how clubs work before we can grasp how they might have trouble meeting in the new school building. Sybil Chamberlin, a math and drama teacher here at Torrington High School who also runs one of the biggest clubs here at THS, Interact Club told the Raider Report how clubs work exactly.
“Meeting spots for clubs are usually in a teacher’s room or one of the open spaces we have during Club time, like the old library, or the theater, or the gym.” When asked how the new school move in January might affect club time she replied, “In the new school, most teachers will be sharing Advisory rooms so holding clubs in those rooms could be difficult if the club is big. I’m not sure how many “open” places there will be – possibly the theater (which is shared with the middle school), the cafe, and the gym. I’m hoping there will be other free spaces for that time.”
It seems like clubs will have difficulty meeting especially with the lack of open classrooms, it’s also important to keep in mind that teachers will be sharing classrooms meaning also shared advisories. Principal Mr. Scott noted that there will be up to two advisories per classroom. This environment creates a lack of space for clubs, especially bigger clubs like Interact.
An additional concern is that all kids are in clubs and will have to stay in their assigned advisory leaving even less room for club space.
Pep rallies are beloved by many students here at THS and we might need to say goodbye for the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year due to our gym not being accessible until the 2025-2026 school year. However, English teacher and Pep Rally organizer Erin Sullivan stays hopeful and says that there are talks of having a virtual pep rally and an outdoor spring pep rally.
To build off the lack of gym access, this also means a pause on home sports games like basketball, all of their home games will be cramped into the first few weeks of October and then the THS basketball team will be on the road for the rest of the season.
