Students and faculty have been reaping the rewards of the new Samohi Exploration Building and Gold Gym for nearly four months, with the early success giving the campus a reason for official celebration.
On Dec. 11, the Samohi complex opened its doors for public tours and a ribbon cutting ceremony with Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) and city leaders, giving them a glimpse of the educational future. The three-floor Exploration Building, divided into sections for visual media arts and various specialized academies, also includes common spaces that allowed the December sunset to bathe the ceremony.
“Today marks a milestone in our shared journey to provide extraordinary opportunities for all students while simultaneously working to close the achievement gap … the Exploration Building and Gold Gym represent much more than state of the art facilities, they symbolize our unwavering commitment to enhancing student learning and preparing every student for a successful future, both academically and socially-emotionally,” SMMUSD Superintendent Dr. Antonio Shelton said.
Shelton added that he’s watched the transformation of Samohi through his time as principal and Executive Director of Secondary Schools, going from a place where students succeeded despite rooms “not built for a collaborative style of learning” to a more interactive and pupil-friendly environment.
“Today, no longer do our students sit in rows in narrow classrooms, but now they have spaces that are indoors and out to collaborate, work together, learn from our dedicated educators, and have the proper tools and equipment to prepare them for careers,” he said.
Those spaces include the technological wonders of the visual media arts sector, which includes rooms for film, photography, ceramics, painting and drawing students. The photography and film departments hold space for rows of computers, as well as studios for each media form. Samohi senior photography student Joel Koye Forquet said his MacBook Pro’s editing software has been “incredible” to use, and that his class can use a dedicated storage room for cameras, lenses and other equipment.
“Compared to a small classroom we had last year, we had so much more room to grow … this building has been a huge new (development) in our department, and I want to thank each and every one of you for investing in this project,” Forquet told the audience.
Academies take up the other half of the building, broken into three distinct groups: Project Lead the Way engineering and architecture, medical and wellness, and law and public policy. For the latter, the building holds a mock courtroom trial setup identical to the real thing, a boon for classes as well as Samohi’s Mock Trial team.
“I can attest to a tremendous difference that this facility right up there on the third floor gives to our future as a team, and if we want to pursue any fields in law,” senior Shenandoah Markos said, adding that the team can now invite other schools to visit the courtroom for competitions.
Another extracurricular now able to host events is the Model United Nations club, which plans on its first-ever conference to be in the Exploration Building. The club’s vice president, Jane Robinson, was able to take multiple uses out of the complex, both for Model UN and as captain of the girls volleyball team.
Robinson added that the volleyball squad, the first to achieve a Vikings victory in the Gold Gym, was able to set up practice nets quicker and spend more time improving its game, leading to a 21-6-1 record and a trip to the CIF Southern Section Division 4 quarterfinals. The gym is equipped with a main and auxiliary gym, a dance studio, yoga studio, fitness center, training room and equipment storage. Locals who took part in post-ceremony tours saw the yoga studio in use for musical theater dance choreography.
“The Exploration Building and the Gold Gym have strengthened the sense of pride that myself and other athletes feel for our programs and our school,” Robinson said.
Opening the complex represents Phase 3 of the Samohi Campus Plan, with Phase 4 set to replace the campus’ Business Building with a new Student Services center, funded through the passage of Measure QS in November. SMMUSD Board of Education Vice President Jon Kean said that Samohi will be given a year to “enjoy the new toys” before the plan moves into motion.
“Our district is well ahead of the game … while we’re focused on the present, we clearly have an eye on the future, and what that means (is) we have been preparing for the next phase of projects since we began these projects,” Kean added.
