Over the summer, Homestead underwent some changes, including two brand new collaboration zones. These two zones replaced the principal’s office and the student office, both which have been relocated near the main entrance.

“I think they’re really nice. They feel more like a college type of classroom,” Jack Mandel, senior, said. “I have a business class, and every single day we’re actually in a collaboration zone.”

The zones, filled with whiteboards, T.V.s, lounge chairs, rolling chairs and countless desks, are designed to encourage student collaboration, and be a space for groups to work and learn.

“They’re comfortable,” Emily Grant, senior, said. “The T.V.s are nice for showing work and it’s a big space so you have a lot of room. If we’re doing a practice problem, we will always write our work up on the boards to show our classmates what’s happening.”

Students from all grades have expressed their liking for working in the zones.

“They’re nice because you can move around and talk to other people while learning,” Jordan Tiech, freshman,
said.

Though the collaboration zones were built to pique student interest, not all students have a love for working in these new, expansive, spaces.

“In a collaboration zone, I feel like everyone is separated, and I have a harder time concentrating. I prefer the classrooms as a learning space because I feel I learn better in a classroom and desk where everyone is around me,” Kassidy Hill, senior, said.

Additionally, some students’ classes don’t give them the opportunity to work in the collaboration zones as much as other classes do. The most common answers to the question ‘Typically, which classes of yours work in the collaboration zones?’ were science, world languages, math and AVID.

“I haven’t been there that often,” Billy Hadcock, junior, said. “I think they would work better if they were more often used.”

And while the amenities provided in the collaboration zones have been described as “nice” by students, they can distract from learning.

“Whenever work needs to be done, I do it, but also its … spinny chairs and … markers and stuff, so it’s kinda asking you to just play around,” Mandel said.