By Jason Suh ’18, Staff Writer

This year at Newark Academy looks to bring about exciting changes for both the students and the faculty. The school is taking on various projects to improve the facility and revamp the buildings with the intent of bettering the overall educational experience.  While many people are indeed aware of the construction on the upcoming new Middle School building, the planned renovations to the Science Wing may have fallen slightly under the radar to a few. In the words of Ms. Celente, Chair of the Science Department, “Everything from the [Science] office down the hall, room 211 to 219, is being gutted.” In this space, the school will place “two new chemistry labs and two new biology labs, each with a shared prep room.” In other words, there will be two prep rooms or areas for equipment preparation, one connecting the two prospective chemistry labs and the other connecting the two prospective biology labs.

As the Director of Business and Finance, Mr. Goldfischer, put it, the Science wing is being “upgraded, modernized, and enlarged.” Dr. DiBianca, the Upper School Principal, similarly stated that the motivation behind the renovations was to “modernize classrooms that were built in the 1960’s.” Along with “improvements in equipment, new fumehoods, new prep rooms, and new furniture,” another important part of the plan is that a “girls’ bathroom will finally be added,” according to Mr. Goldfischer.

As for when these constructions are projected to occur, Mr. Goldfischer stated that “demolition will start the first day of spring break.” As some of the work for the renovations has “already been done in advance,” he notes, “we are hopeful the work will be finished by mid-August.” In the meantime during the construction period, students and classes will have to be relocated to different areas of the building—or perhaps even outdoors. Some teachers have already informed their students that their classes may be moved to “trailers” of some sort, which Ms. Celente has confirmed to be true. “We are renting portable classrooms, and they will be placed on the campus. They’re not really lab spaces, so we’re trying to frontload all the labs in this part of the spring semester.” Classes will also be relocated to the “darkroom [near the arts wing] and another space” – likely room 6, according to Ms. Celente.

When asked whether she thought the Science Wing constructions would benefit the students, Ms. Celente provided a positive response. “We are all excited by the possibility of having renovated, modern spaces. They will hopefully give us the space to do different types of labs, like those designed for students to do independent research.” Indeed, it seems like improved science facilities has become a growing need of the students at Newark Academy as kids continue to demonstrate more interest in the subjects of chemistry, biology, and physics. As Mr. Goldfischer memorably puts it, “We’d like to provide state-of-the-art facilities for the curriculum, and it’s time for science to get theirs.”