With the opening of the 2022-2023 school year came many changes at Chester High School.

One of the changes includes new Yondr pouches. The improved model includes a button that pops out and encloses the needle when the pouch is unlocked. The pouch is locked by pushing down the button, which exposes the needle that you insert into the other side. This prevents accidental pokes from the needle, as well as students feigning the closing of their pouch. With the plus sides, there are also some downsides. The new model of the Yondr pouch is a little more difficult to open with the unlocker. There is a required amount of pressure that must be met for the pouch to open. Overall, this change does not affect students in any sort of negative way.

We have shifted to One-to-One learning, which means that every individual student has their own chromebook. This was implemented to hopefully improve the learning quality when using chromebooks, and will help preserve the usability of the Chromebooks.

There are also a couple of new administrators. Mr. Blechle is the new Principal, and Mrs. Briggs is the new Superintendent. Mrs. Brown is Dean of Students.

Along with the new administrators, there are quite a few new staff members. Mr. Wente has shifted from the temporary Social Studies position to the Physical Education teacher, Mr. Juenger is teaching Social Studies, and Mrs. Carroll is teaching sciences. Mrs. Miles is the English co-teacher.

With the implementation of new staff, the classrooms have also been moved around some. Mrs. Belton is now in what was formerly Mrs. Brown’s classroom. Mr. Juenger is in what was formerly Mrs. Belton’s room. Mrs. Carroll is in what was formerly Ms. Kish’s room. Mrs. Boyd is in room 229. Mrs. Miller is in room 304. Mrs. Brown is in room 312.

The last big change is the wider stairs in Colbert Gym. They have been widened so that a handrail may be put in the center. This makes it easier for people to get up and down the stairs, especially during sports games and music concerts when there may be more handicapped people in the audience.

Although some of the changes may be a little bit confusing, they are ultimately helpful and will help to ensure the success of students.