Venice High School needs to stop the modernization of our campus. 

Trust me, I understand wanting to have a pretty and unique campus. But after a while, it loses its charm. What were once vibrant blue outdoor walls in between the Cuningham and West Buildings are now dull gray colors that seem lifeless and boring.

The interior of the new buildings look great, especially the Shop building with the walls that are decorated thanks to Venice’s art students’ talented work—but what about the outside of the buildings?

They are still gray and detract much of the charm Venice once had. There are now no murals on the walls like the ones on the side of the main and far west buildings. In their places stand only depressing modern architecture.

Additionally, while we desperately needed it as a way to improve our school, it still hurts to see iconic areas such as the bleachers that were once featured in Grease taken away from our campus. It feels like we’re erasing a piece of our history, because our school now has very little left from the original movie. The bleachers and cafeteria were re-done and now resemble nothing like the actual movie.

And what about the outdoor areas for students? There is next to no shade anywhere for students to relax on those especially hot summer days that can reach 90 degrees. 

The seating is extremely uncomfortable. I get it, the school put in those “unique” seats outside to mitigate skateboarding on campus, but what about the average student? 

They must pick between either sitting comfortably and having their food slide off their seat or sitting uncomfortably and having their food stay in place. 

Overall, our new campus sounds great from the outside, but on the inside, it’s taken away much of the charm that Venice High once had.