James Campbell High School (JCHS) is known for being the largest high school in the state of Hawaii, with more than 3,000 students. So huge that to temporarily alleviate the overcrowding situation on campus, JCHS has extended onto the Pohakea Elementary School grounds. But, with JCHS appropriating the needed funds from the state, $39,000,000, they will be able to construct and supply furnishing for an entirely new three storey building south-west of the campus.

School officials predict that construction will begin in 2018, with the new building being built between J-Building and the Ewa Beach Public Library. “It’s a great idea to help with the overcrowding problem we have on campus,” said a senior, Michael Andres. Majority of the classrooms for JCHS are on the large side with the average class having more than 25 students. This is a problem for many portable classes due to their limited room capacity.

The scheduled date that the building will be open for use is 2019-2020 school year, “It’s sort of irrelevant to me because I’d be graduating before then,” said senior, Alexander Buenafe. Some seniors are also indifferent due to this building; it won’t be in their disposal this school year. Nevertheless, it will be beneficial to the entire student body in the future.

The space where the building will be built, has been used as an additional farming area by the Agricultural Learning Center for the last 30 years. The Agricultural class will have time to evacuate the area before January, but until then, the class plans to continue to use the land and cherish the last harvests of produce from the farm.  

Some teachers that occupy portables 44 and 45 between J-building and the Library, will also be faced with classroom changes due to the building plans. “I’m going to become a floater next school year,” said Ryan Fesler, a Social Studies teacher. Fesler will have to unfortunately find different classes to teach his lessons while transitioning his teaching materials each time, though he states that, “this building is a good idea.” Teachers and students will make a few sacrifices for the greater good of future students.

This new building will be one of the most notable modifications made to JCHS along with the new installments of air conditioning. It’ll be the newest building besides Saber Hall or S-building, which was built in 2014. Change is a never ending cycle, however this building will provide new educational opportunities and memories for the future scholars of JCHS.