Referendum yields more parking, new fitness center, food eduction wing
By Mike Ramczyk
Correspondent
The aroma of baked goods filled the air in a vibrant room full of high school students and two teachers.
The large, new wing houses two classrooms, separated by a transparent divide.
Seniors Savannah Driscoll, Abby Dobbs and Ana Balge put the finishing touches on triangle-shaped pastries with white frosting.
Holly Knurr is teaching Baking, while Toni Hundertmark leads a group for Foods 2.
The new food preparation wing, which was included in a $10 million referendum in 2019, is like nothing Hundertmark has ever seen.
“It’s amazing,” she said Thursday morning after class dismissed. “Comparing to other schools, some are geared toward hospitality, so a lot of their students will be going into culinary work, and they do not have half of the area they have here.”
“I’ve been in many high schools in the Stevens Point and Fond du Lac area, and nothing compares to this. It’s amazing to be able to be here and experience it.”
While Foods is more of an introduction to cooking, Baking provides tricks for the experienced foodie or cook.
But the cooking wing only scratches the surface.
Weight room, animal wing
There is a huge weight room, packed with treadmills, weight stations and loose weights, along with a dance studio.
Walk outside and there is another freshly paved parking lot that can hold roughly 100 vehicles.
WUHS Superintendent Lucas Francois detailed the major changes Thursday morning.
“Upgrades include a new space for a residential and commercial kitchen, a small animals laboratory for housing livestock, a fitness center, a storage area and maintenance shed, an expansion of parking lots, a technology upgrade, lighting LED retrofit for all fixtures, Performing Arts Center lighting upgrade, phones, and paging replacement, and remodeling of older spaces,” Francois said.
The projects, which were approved in April 2019, finished for the start of this school year.
The main reason was to support careers in the hospitality and agriculture industries, to fit the needs of district students.
“The school district committed to supporting careers in culinary arts and agriculture,” Francois said. “Furthermore, an effort was made to expand parking to remove cars from street sides to make better neighbors. Finally, technology upgrades enhanced the opportunity to teach in front of students – in-person and virtually.”
Career-driven learning
Francois said the goal of the new facilities is to enhance the traditional workspaces of WUHS into something more inclusive for the careers students might likely pursue.
Were there any hiccups?
“The site west of school for enhanced parking found contaminated soils that the district has since remediated, coupled with a lower baseball parking lot that is too wet to pave as it stands now,” Francois added.
For Hundertmark, who still attends college at UW-Stevens Point, she loves the students even though she “looks like one of them.”
All jokes aside, Hundertmark says the Baking class has “chop battles,” where kids pick their own recipes and have cooking contests.
She is excited for the new school year.
“I love interacting with the students and being able to build a relationship,” Hundertmark said. “Since I look like them, I have more stories and I can relate to them.”
“I love it. It’s a great experience. I’m learning a lot, and it’s nice.”
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