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Health & Fitness

District 113 Referendum Passed!

The students of Highland Park High School are faced with much discomfort every day because of the lacking aspects of the school. As the referendum was passed, many members of the community rejoice.

The the idea of renovating and rebuilding Highland Park High School started off as just that- an idea. But after a 52.38% vote in favor of passing this referendum, it seems the city is in favor of this once simple proposition to provide the community with not only a place for their children to be educated, but a school not looked down upon by neighboring communities. As a student at Highland Park High School, I very much wanted this referendum to be passed.

In my math classroom, as with many other classrooms, a part of our ceiling is covered with mold and fungus, and if you were one of the unfortunate ones to be placed by this part, it was a constant fear that something might touch you or even affect you just by its presence. Not only that, but my math teacher comes into the classroom every morning, opens the windows, and leaves for a few minutes for the room to air out, because it smells so heavily of mold that she cannot bear to be in there or let her students be in that situation.

As you travel into the aquatic area of the school, a heavy cloud of chemicals surrounds you, and the smell of pool cleaner is overwhelming. Unfortunately, those facts are the only things that are healthy about the pool. My sister used to swim there after school on her swim team, HPAC. However, she had to quit swimming, one of her biggest passions, because she has asthma, and she, along with many other swimmers on her team, had regular asthma attacks because of the surroundings. Myself, with many others included, got hives all over our bodies from the pool during the swimming unit in gym. That should not be happening, because as long as we are being forced to swim, it should be in a healthy environment. 

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I'm very grateful that the referendum was passed, and I hope the residents of Highland Park, students alike, choose to look beyond themselves and realize the overall good that this will do for our community. While it may need a slight increase in property taxes to do its job, it is needed to be able to provide the best for our community, students and their families, and even people who don't take advantage of our school system. 

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