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Gene Grant: New school, new energy, nervous dad

By Gene Grant
Thursday, August 16, 2007

Freshmen Alexandra Rudisell and Nick Cotinola compare class schedules outside the front doors at Volcano Vista High School. The gleaming new West Side campus opened for freshmen only Wednesday.

Photo by Craig FritzTribune

Tribune

Freshmen Alexandra Rudisell and Nick Cotinola compare class schedules outside the front doors at Volcano Vista High School. The gleaming new West Side campus opened for freshmen only Wednesday.

Volcano Vista freshman Daniel Chavez, 15, fills out registration forms under the watchful eyes of KOAT-Channel 7 photographer Chris Fullam and reporter Dominic Garcia. The city's first new high school in more than 20 years teemed with reporters Wednesday, its opening day of classes.

Photo by Craig FritzTribune

Tribune

Volcano Vista freshman Daniel Chavez, 15, fills out registration forms under the watchful eyes of KOAT-Channel 7 photographer Chris Fullam and reporter Dominic Garcia. The city's first new high school in more than 20 years teemed with reporters Wednesday, its opening day of classes.

OK, so just who was it inside that Volcano Vista hawk mascot outfit anyway?

That was the great mystery last week as I attended orientation night with my oldest daughter at Albuquerque's newest, albeit yet to be complete high school.

It was odd, to say the least, to be shaking hands with a giant bird at the front door. But whatever the symbolism, I suppose there are worse ways to cross a threshold.

There is no mystery, however, in how I feel having my first kid now a high schooler.

I'm a wreck.

You'd think that by high school a parent would have built up some emotional stamina, but this ain't easy.

My high school years were not pleasant: a family disintegrating in front of my eyes, racial stress and a lot of loneliness.

Not projecting your own fears on your kids' experience comes with time, and I thought I had a good handle on it, but high school is a leap.

On that, I would like to apologize here and now to all those parents I knew years ago who, approaching the same threshold with their kids, endlessly dished out clichés like, "How did this happen?" At the time, I was rolling my internal eyes to the heavens.

I am so sorry. I had no idea. I get it now.

Back to Volcano Vista, I must say that once past the hawk outfit, it all went fairly smoothly, although I was in a fog.

There's a palpable enthusiasm from the staff that I very much appreciated. A commitment to being proactive was on display all over. It was appreciated because this new school is a bit intimidating.

The design aspects are well thought out. I would have liked to have seen more natural light elements in the nonclassroom areas, but there's a good sense of flow to the place. I'm sure that might strike some as odd, since we're talking hallways, lockers and classrooms, but you'd be surprised how crummy the layout in some schools can be.

I attended a high school that the architects who designed the prison at Guantanamo Bay would have saluted. It was utterly dreadful. These things, as we know in the modern era of design, make a difference in a learning environment.

The more interesting point on this issue of schools and design came to me at the CNM West Side campus, where the Volcano Vista parents and students caught shuttle buses to the high school. (Volcano Vista's parking lots aren't finished.)

I've been in the CNM building a couple of times, and it hit me that the West Side could make a pretty solid claim on having the two best designed schools in the city within 2 miles of each other.

But a school — designed well or not — comes down to the people who populate it.

As vain as my struggle was to choke down my internal demons, they were balanced by the realization that these kids are profoundly lucky to be in a situation like this.

Memories of a brand new school and all it affords, new teams taking on and perhaps beating traditional city powerhouses, the very first issue of the school paper, the first play staged, the first prom: This is kid magic, whether they grasp the enormity of it now or not.

I couldn't be happier for all of them.

So, now I have a high schooler. I'll get there eventually. She's a terrific kid who, starting Wednesday, looks to be attending a school that has all the markings of a great place of learning.

Now, if I can just figure out who was in that mascot outfit. I've got my money on the mayor.