Anne Arundel County seniors grappled with decision to attend brand-new high school
BALTIMORE -- Hundreds of high school seniors in Anne Arundel County wrestled with the decision to attend the brand-new Severn Run High School over returning to their previous school.
Severn Run High was built to offset overcrowding in Old Mill, North County and Meade high schools. The new facility boasts plenty of windows, state-of-the-art athletic amenities and 3D printers.
This school year, those seniors who opted to attend Severn Run will be the school's first graduating class.
The community chose the Wolves as the Severn Run mascot. Severn Run's first home football game will be on Friday, September 13 against the Old Mill Patriots.
Why take a chance on the new school?
WJZ spoke with students who left Old Mill High School to attend the new Severn Run High School. They were given the option about halfway through their junior year.
"They were like, 'You've got to decide by the end of 2023 if you want to stay or if you want to go,' and it was a decision we had to make," student Jacob Young said.
While most of their classmates chose to stay, Jacob Young, Owen Salanik, Travis Caulk and Kaden Crawford were among the students who saw Severn Run High School as an opportunity they didn't want to miss.
"I liked the connections I made there and the teachers but I kind of just wanted to experience something new," Crawford said.
"I'm all about meeting new people," Salanik said.
"My family graduated from Old Mill so that was kind of a struggle to choose because I wanted to graduate where they graduated, but I also want to be my own person and be the first graduating class of a new school," Caulk added.
"Some of us were driven by our younger siblings as well, who didn't have the decision to go and we wanted to be with them as well," Young said. "But I think knowing that all of us were going made it a lot easier to choose."
Seven years in the works
Anne Arundel County purchased the 50-acre property in 2017 to build Severn Run High School. Parents hope the new facility will foster a better learning experience for students.
"Being oversaturated in class, or feeling like they're in a rut and need a jumpstart, and maybe getting that in a new school with new teachers and just new faculty all together," parent Toni Smith said.
Needing overcrowding relief
Severn Run offers long-awaited relief from overcrowding at the Old Mill complex which houses the high school and middle school which was built in the 1970s.
"It wasn't built to accommodate the amount of people we have in the area right now," parent Krissy Young said.
Students say overcrowding was taking a toll on them as well as their teachers.
"We had a teacher our freshman year leave after one semester just because they were so overwhelmed with how difficult their job became," Jacob Young said.
"We're ready to take it on"
Eager to get involved in the shiny new school, their parents quickly formed the Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA).
"We're ready to take it on," PTSA President Hollie Caldwell said. "Well, they're ready to take it on."