Before the school temporarily moved to Wallingford in 2004 to accommodate the extensive renovation and modernization of the Central District's historic, 1920s-era neo-Jacobian building, Hungate-Hawk taught her students in the confining space of a converted girls locker room that had no natural light.
Her room now sits on the third floor and features the perfect amount of northern light with tall windows dominating the east wall that provide a view encompassing the school's state-of-the-art track and field, blocks of bungalows and a horizon capped with an inspiring view of the Cascades. And gone are the 15 portable classrooms that used to sit at the base of the school's eastern side.
"From the outside, it still looks like Garfield," Hungate-Hawk said about her school's renovation, which was celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday, Sept. 2. "Garfield is more than a building. It's an attitude and it's all about inclusion. It has nothing to do with the color of their skin or how much money they have. It has to do with what's in their hearts."
An emphasis on the use of natural lighting - from the massive skylights in the cavernous dinning room and expansive library to near wall-length banks of windows in classrooms throughout the building - was an important design element when community members and school district architects began to radically reimagine the school's interior in 2003, according to Don Gillmore, construction manager for Seattle Public Schools Building Excellence II.
Gilmore noted there are studies linking increased daylighting of buildings to increased academic achievement, a fact one can feel strolling the halls, classrooms and meeting spaces of a reborn building, especially if you were familiar with the dark, cramped spaces that had dominated Garfield for decades.
The consistent flow of light through the entire building puts a bold, head-clearing exclamation on the impressive array of technology built into the school's classrooms, especially on the third floor. Before the renovation, Garfield's top level was separated by a wall demarcating the original 1923 building and the 1929 addition directly to the south, a design that made getting around the school akin to walking in a labyrinth.
With the third floor made as one, both Gillmore and Garfield principal Ted Howard II (a 1985 Bulldog alumnus) noted that both students and teachers will feel more connected with each other on a peer-to-peer level, as well as a department-to-department level. It's an important design move considering the school's previous capacity stood at 1,240 students and it now tops 1,600 for the coming year.
Along with the structural changes, each classroom will feature collegiate-like amenities. Gillmore pointed out that every classroom has an overhead LCD projector and DVD player that's synched with Internet access and a wireless keyboard and mouse to allow the teachers, and students, to work with lesson plans shown on the screen from wherever they want to be in the room. The classes also boast "self-healing walls" made of a vinyl composite and designed to work like a giant, pushpin cork board.
"I'm so excited for the technology," said Spanish teacher Gretchen Sloan, whose room also sports a kitchen that will allow her students to integrate food preparation into their lesson plans. "We can prepare. We can do a lot more whereas before, all we could do was reheat."
Sloan also emphasized that, with the digital tools in all the classes, she will no longer need to reserve a projector to aid her lessons. Prior to the renovation there was a lack of such essential equipment, and making a reservation did not guarantee a teacher would have access to it when needed.
"Here, if we find something great on the Internet, we can throw it up on the screen," Sloan said.
Additionally, there are 11 combination science laboratories and classrooms throughout the building, including science teacher Heather Snookal's room, which also has direct access to the school's 1,200-foot greenhouse.
"This will be the nicest room I've ever taught in," Snookal asserted. "I'm thrilled! I really feel this is a gift for the kids. It'll make them feel special, and that's what they need."
Along with the main building's overhaul, the school also will feature an expanded gymnasium with three full-size basketball courts and retractable seating for around 2,000 people. Right next to the gym, and directly off the main-entrance's welcoming courtyard and imposing front steps, is the entrance to the professional-caliber Quincy Jones Performance Center to the north and the remodeled teen life center to the south.
In all, the school now encompasses 8.9 acres with the building costs coming in at just over $107 million. The price tag ballooned from it's initial budget of $75 million because of the rising cost of concrete and steel in the past year, said Gillmore.
But with all of these changes, Howard feels the most important physical and symbolic element in Garfield was preserved, the look of the building.
"It makes it feel like home, the warmth of the building," Howard said. "I think a lot of people forget that schools are homes for people," adding that the renovation is "an investment" for past and future generations of Garfield students and nearby community members.
Come celebrate the dedication of Garfield High School's Quincy Jones Performance Center on Friday, Sept. 26. The dedication begins at 4:30 with the doors opening at 4 p.m. Seating is limited and tickets are required. For more information, call 252-0046.
To view more of Bradley Enghaus' pictures of the rennovated Garfield High School, log on to www.sdistrictjournal.com.
Erik Hansen may be reached via editor@sdistrictjournal.com.
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