It’s said that, if you build it they will come and come they will to the new Evans High School.
There’s a new performing arts center with a state-of-the art lighting and sound system and which seats 900 people, a new gym with a seating capacity for 2,300 and a new floor that has earned the moniker “Snake Pit,” an administrative suite that looks out on a large atrium, three-story class room buildings with windows that let in the natural light and equipped with audio enhancements, Smart-boards, tablets and slates to assist teachers with instruction and to help kids with learning and development.
That’s the new Evans High School, Home of the Trojans, to which some 2,200 students will return when they head back to school on January 3rd.
“It has been a long time coming,” says Dr. David Christiansen, principal, Evans High School. “At one point Evans was going to close, at one point we were going to change location. We’ve been living on a 9th grade center with kind of sub-par facilities.”
Children in the Pine Hills and surrounding areas have been housed for quite sometime, in 85 portables, with no gym or auditorium. For years they have been at a major disadvantage when compared to their counterparts at other area schools such as, Dr. Phillips High School or Olympia High School.
A slew of activities are planned to commemorate the opening of the new Evans High School. On January 21, a major parade in which 60 organizations are expected to participate, will make its way from Powers Drive and Silver Star to the school. Then, a dedication ceremony at the school’s stadium will follow the parade at 12:00 noon, at which there will be food, drinks and t-shirt give-aways. The campus will be opened up after the dedication ceremony where the community at-large will have an opportunity to tour the facility.
Christiansen says, there is absolute excitement and anticipation with the imminent opening of new Evans High School. He doesn’t believe that anything stands in the way now of further gains in the student graduation rate, what with the new technologies, teaching aids and other amenities in place.
“Yes, there’s poverty in Pine Hills, yes there’s challenges, ” he said. “But, even with the sub-par facilities we’ve had, we’ve raised our graduation rate from 49 percent to 80 percent. In order to move it further and get it above 90 percent, this type and level of academic regiment is going to help improve that.”
The new school will not only be providing academic instruction to students, but there is a community school dimension as well. Based on a 25-year partnership with the University of Central Florida, Children’s Home Society and JP Morgan-Chase, the community school will provide a range of health services to students and parents. These services are expected to include, physicals, vision screenings and dental, among others.
Evans High is in the final stages of being federally qualified as a health home for families and kids, which is quite rare.
“What we are trying to move towards, is that, literally, all health needs are met by various medical resources,” Christiansen said. “Sure, we would have to farm out certain things. But, what we want to hear from the community is, what they would want in health services, what they would want in other services, because when you think about being open until 9:00 p.m., what programming do the adults want in Pine Hills.”
Initially perceived as an outsider when first appointed in 2007, Christiansen has been able to gain the trust of students and parents alike, in a community that is diverse and disparate. He credits much of that success to being able to convey that he cares and is in for the long haul.
“My race and class, socially and economically, are not relevant,” he says. “What’s relevant is, ‘do I care, am I in this for the long haul, and what am I really trying to change and make better?'” Students and parents have been able to discern that I am here for the right reasons and that I really care about them, he adds.
Perhaps this is best exemplified in the number of parents and guardians that attended the last PTSA at Evans High School.
In 2007, four parents showed up for a PSTA meeting when Christiansen first took over the reigns at the school. So poorly attended was the PSTA that he says he thought about quitting. Fast forward to 2011, three weeks ago, 1,700 parents, guardians and other family members assembled for a PTSA on a Saturday morning.
Christiansen sees the new Evans High School serving as a major anchor for the community, helping to create lasting stability in an area which has seen resources move in and out and schools in the Pine Hills area, avoided.
“This new campus is bigger than just bricks and mortar,” he said. “It represents something special and something meaningful, and kind of a rebirth. “It’s like it’s a new day at Evans and in Pine Hills, and I think it’s symbolic of the transformation of our community.”
On the commemorative t-shirts we decided to put, “Evans High School Born 1958 – Reborn 2012,” Christiansen said.
Read More of WONO’s Interview with Dr. David Christiansen Here.
