Over the summer, Mentor High School underwent significant renovations to multiple areas of the building. Offering new opportunities to students through advanced learning environments, these updates are set to advance and modernize teacher instruction. Much of the renovations were designated towards MHS Career Prep classes, including Culinary, Construction, Programming, and Cybersecurity Academies. However, before diving into specific changes and their impact on student development and teacher instruction, it is important to understand how such changes were facilitated and what their overarching goal is.
To answer questions on the progress of the renovations and the financial aspect of the updates, Cardinal Nation reached out to Mentor High School’s Principal, Mr. John Fullerman, for comment.
Cardinal Nation: In short, can you detail all of the updates and changes made to the building over the summer?
Mr. Fullerman: We made a lot of updates to our classrooms. We updated our construction academy to include several new tools and machines that allow students a real life learning experience. We updated our cyber security and programming and software academy classrooms. We also updated our culinary academy to include a large classroom and full size cooking lab. We also updated our Cardinal Path room to begin a workforce ready program that will allow students to find job opportunities. We also updated our Digital media classroom to create a better work environment.
Cardinal Nation: Are the updates complete as of the current? If not, when should we expect them to be completed?
Mr. Fullerman: With so many projects, it was challenging staying on target, but we were able to open almost all the spaces on time (amazing work by both the construction side and custodial side).
Mr. Fullerman also noted the renovations were able to be completed through grants, specifically the Ohio Career Tech Grant Program, which allocated $2.2 million to Mentor High School to develop new career-oriented education programs for students.
Computer Science Renovations
The F-Wing at Mentor High School underwent one of the largest renovations in the building over the summer, redesigning and fundamentally altering the makeup of many of the classes in the hall. Currently, two interconnected classrooms have been completely altered to host the Programming and Software Development Academy and Cybersecurity Academy, paving the way for career opportunities in the field of Information Technology.
Specifically, these classrooms now host many modern technology labs to facilitate programming and cybersecurity instruction. On the left part of the interconnected space is the Programming and Software Development Academy, a 4-mod course taught by Mrs. O’Connor, which also hosts Computer Science Essentials throughout the day. The room is equipped with six student tables, each holding multiple seats equipped with individual laptops on a smooth carpeted floor. Around the room, four AirPlay-compatible televisions allow for easy projection to larger displays for class instruction, regardless of a student’s seat in class.
To dig deeper into the experience of teachers and students in the renovated space, Cardinal Nation reached out to Programming and Software Development Academy Teacher Mrs. Melinda O’Connor, who invited Cardinal Nation to view the room during class time and speak to students taking the course. Upon entering the room, an immediately welcoming atmosphere was noticeably present, where students were happily working on projects and collaborating with one another.
During the visit, Cardinal Nation spoke to three Programming Academy senior students who had taken the same course during their junior year. One senior, Jonathan Nemelka, mentioned the most impactful change following the renovations is the open space and connection to the Cybersecurity Academy across the connected room. Senior Dominic Cater joined Nemelka’s notion, telling Cardinal Nation, “I’m able to see over there and just see whatever they’re doing up there and it’s cool because I mean, I get to look over there and be like, oh, that’s what they’re doing. That’s fun because I take interest in what other classes are doing.”
When asked about what future Programming and Software Development Academy students should be excited for, senior Devin Olix commented on the Lenovo ThinkPad computers provided in the class, an upgrade from student Chromebooks, “but also just the better sense of working together that’s given by the layouts.” Olix also mentioned that the Academy and other Computer Science courses offer a great deal of freedom for students to explore individual programming projects, saying the courses help students create “[projects] that you can enjoy and be proud of, that’s less restricted.”
Cardinal Nation then asked the students about how the Programming and Software Development Academy has impacted their skills in computer science and helped them prepare for their future in computer science fields, with each student providing unique insight into how their skills have improved during their Academy time.
Cardinal Nation: How has hands-on learning in the Academy given you a better understanding of programming and software development, and how do you think it will impact your future life?
Cater: It definitely helps a lot because before coming into [AP Computer Science A] last year, I knew kind of what I was doing. I knew how to read code, but once I started taking the class, I [could] actually write programs and understand them.
Nemelka: A good part about the [Programming and Software Development Academy] is that it also has job readiness involved in it because not only does it teach you about the program aspect, but [it] also teaches you stuff that you can do to put that forth into a working job, like we’ve worked on making resumes for our programs.”
Olix: I think one thing that like really helped me was being exposed to a wide range of different topics through programming. I wouldn’t usually be working with a database or anything similar, but being exposed to that through the classroom gave me an option to actually learn the topics that I wouldn’t otherwise learn on my own.
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Between the two interconnected academy classrooms lie individual pods, hosting the rooms’ networks and also individual instruction areas for small group and one-on-one discussions. Mrs. O’Connor told Cardinal Nation that the rooms are also designed to allow businesses to visit and talk to students in a formal environment inside Mentor High School. In addition, the pods offer opportunities for students to individually develop elements for projects currently under development, like video game assets, away from the common buzz of the classroom.
On the right part of the interconnected room is the Cybersecurity Academy, taught by Mr. Butterfield. Besides the 2-mod Cybersecurity Academy, the space also hosts AP Computer Science Principles, Computer Science Essentials, and AP Computer Science A. The room contains 24 individual MSI desktop computers, Logitech G-series keyboards, and Logitech G502 HERO mice. The room is arranged with three ascending rows, each seating eight students, with a final mobile station at the back for additional teacher instruction. The room also features two large AirPlay-compatible televisions at the front of the classroom, visible to all students, for easy projection during instruction. The entire interconnected classroom is lit with strip lighting on the ceiling, giving the space a more modern feel for more modern instruction.
Two of the senior students in Mrs. O’Connor’s classroom, Devin Olix and Dominic Cater, also take the Cybersecurity Academy. Cater told Cardinal Nation that the computers in the Cybersecurity Academy are fun to use, being high-powered, unlike anything else in the school, calling them “…pretty strong. They could be used for decently high-level gaming.” In regard to the course material covered in the Academy, Cater and Olix labeled the course as fast-paced but jam-packed with fun concepts. “It’s kind of insane how much just pure content you’re exposed to in that class,” said Olix, who, along with Cater, listed the various projects already covered in the Academy this year, including brute force attacks, password attacks, and malware.
“We’ve given a virtual machine a virus. We’ve prevented a virtual machine from entering a website on another virtual machine. We’ve tracked down everything about a fake person that was shared online before. It’s pretty fast-paced, and it just kind of makes sense,” said Cater.
Cardinal Nation also reached out to Mr. Butterfield about his experience in the space, who declined to comment, but all three students spoke very highly of Mr. Butterfield during the interview, with Olix commenting, “It’s a very good class, Mr. Butterfield is just a really good teacher.”
Culinary Changes
At Mentor High School’s student kitchen, a whole new environment was created, featuring modern and professional equipment to better prepare students for real-life experiences. The updated space is to hold Mentor High School’s Culinary Academy, taught by Mrs. Siskind. The room contains new commercial-grade equipment as opposed to more residential environments, better preparing students for culinary careers, including 4 identical workspace stations, each including a stovetop, oven, cabinet space, countertop workspace, and two sinks. On the side of the room, large fridges and additional oven space are included to supplement education, and the back of the room holds another workspace for teacher demonstrations. A camera positioned from the ceiling captures the teacher’s work, projecting directly onto two AirPlay-compatible televisions positioned behind the teacher for all students to view.
To gain a better understanding of the renovated space, Cardinal Nation reached out to Culinary Academy Teacher Mrs. Katharine Siskind. Note, students have not yet had access to utilize the room as renovations are currently in their final stages.
Cardinal Nation: What new equipment is available in the kitchen following this summer’s renovations?
Mrs. Siskind: There is not any equipment that would be considered new because we did not have it before. The new equipment is simply that, new, but it is more industrial/commercial quality and style. The one new addition to the Lab is not equipment per se, but new technology. The students will now watch the big screen televisions for demonstration instead of the teacher directly.
Cardinal Nation: How will this equipment better prepare students for careers in culinary fields or gain experience for everyday life?
Mrs. Siskind: Students interested in the culinary field will learn how to cook in the commercial setting versus a residential setting, like our previous kitchen set-up. This will allow a more commercial setting and provide the opportunity for students to become familiar with the industrial equipment. As for students learning to cook for everyday life, this will not change! Students will simply learn to follow recipes, prepare foods, and cook in a kitchen with some really cool, new equipment!
Cardinal Nation: How have these renovations changed the way in which teachers can instruct students in culinary courses?
Mrs. Siskind: These changes have brought on some new challenges that we cannot yet work through because of supply issues, but once we get students in the kitchen whipping up some good food, we will tackle the changes and challenges with everything we got!
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In addition, space previously utilized by the art department has been reconstructed to hold classroom space, which hosts Gourmet Foods classes among other culinary courses. To finish the D-wing room, a wall has been constructed in the space that previously held art display cases.
Construction Upgrades
In addition to computer science and culinary courses, Mentor High School saw many significant upgrades to its Construction Academy, taught by Mr. Novy. The updated space now contains many pieces of industrial equipment to prepare students for construction careers. Across the room, seven work stations are present, granting students large spaces to work with objects freely. The back wall of the room hosts many machines, including three Jet Bandsaws for wood and metal cutting, a Powermatic Planer to adjust the thickness of pieces, and two Jet Floorstanding Drill Presses for drilling precise holes into material. In the corner of the room is a CNC router for cutting and engraving digital designs onto material. On another wall is a Jet Wood Lathe for stationary woodworking and material shaping. The entire room has multiple dust collection systems to collect sawdust and other debris after machine use.
Cardinal Nation reached out to Mr. Novy, who shared his experience and thoughts about the space.
Cardinal Nation: What new equipment and technologies are available in the Construction Academy after this summer’s renovations?
Mr. Novy: A larger shop area and classroom, all new wood shop equipment, new dust collection system, new work area with work benches.
Cardinal Nation: How will this equipment better prepare students for careers in construction fields or gain experience for other career paths?
Mr. Novy: The new areas will allow students a stronger opportunity to get experiences with equipment , tools, techniques, and processes that are carried out in the trades.
Cardinal Nation: How have these renovations changed the way in which teachers can instruct students in construction and similar courses?
Mr. Novy: We now have industry standard equipment and tools to provide a better experience for the students considering the trades.
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Overall, the new spaces at Mentor High School offer excellent opportunities for students to enhance their skills in specialized trades and prepare for a career in the workforce. Not only do these spaces make teaching courses easier for instructors, but they make learning much more engaging for students, putting them leagues ahead of other high schoolers without access to such well-developed programs, giving Mentor students an edge in trade schools, colleges, and the workforce.
