Tom Heath, a member of the school’s IT department, recounted that, “the week before teacher workshops ... [the school] still had open walls.”

But many members of the CHRHS community are still able to see an air of positivity in light of the situation. Effort from community members from within and around the school has been highlighted, especially in discussion.

“It was amazing to watch,” Heath said, in reference to the quick action and repairs made to the theater department’s space before school started.

He added that it was quick enough, in fact, that, “most of our walls got rebuilt before students got there, so it really didn’t impact us that much,” and that it “didn’t impact the start of the play.”

Jen Curtis, current CHRHS principal, and who has been vice principal in past years, remarked that she has been comforted by a constant “reaffirming” community feel throughout the aftermath. She points to both, “the community support inside the building and the community support outside.”

A large role in the in-school community effort has no doubt been from that of custodians. Sections of the CHRHS populace who may not be as directly impacted by the events have still strongly sensed the strain on them.

Carolyn Brown, a visual arts teacher at CHRHS, had no idea that the fire and flooding had even taken place until the beginning of the school year. Still, she believes that the art department and herself still faced some challenges because of it. She noted that some of the small projects she’s wanted worked on lacked custodial help.

“I asked for some more electrical outlets and that didn’t get done,” explained Brown, thinking the reason was that “it took so much time to fix that ... [the custodians] had to spend so many hours mopping up the water, removing the rotten drywall and wood, repainting—cleaning it all up—that there wasn’t much time to do anything else.”

Although this strain caused the problems that staff members like Brown faced, it also apparently revealed a certain amount of support within the school’s network of help. Abby Van Hoewyk, a new French teacher at the high school, who felt similar issues at the beginning of the year–said that the process, “definitely felt like good communication, and like people were taking care of each other.”

In a similar boat as the custodians, physical education teachers and others involved with the school’s gym have had a particularly turbulent struggle, as they’ve grappled with needing to find substitutive space.

“[The] gym teachers have pretty much lost their classroom, and the next few weeks are going to be especially tough on them,” said Shawn Carlson, the school’s current superintendent and former principal.

“Our P.E. teachers have been phenomenal ... I probably haven’t given them enough credit,” said Curtis, who explained that the gym floor is being redone due to the concrete under it being saturated with water after the flooding.

Outside of all the positivity seen within these collaborative human efforts, there have been a few added highlights, although maybe more niche-like, one of these being the operation of the school’s precautionary systems.

“We know our sprinklers work, our cameras work, and our alarms work,” said Heath. “It’s nice to have that assurance that everything works the way it’s supposed to,” he said, somewhat jokingly.

Curtis seems to agree with this sentiment.

“We were really pleased with what happened when nobody was present,” she said. “All our systems worked.”

Indeed, the lack of fire damage is something for which that the school’s sprinkler system can be thanked, regardless of the damage it may have caused itself. However, the school’s security cameras can also be recognized as an unlikely hero.

About two years ago, the school overhauled its security system, adding more cameras and updating all of them to a higher video quality.

Heath believes that, “the old [security] system definitely would not have captured the fire” and emphasized, “we have cameras in place to cover when things like this happen.”

He said that the situation demonstrates that these security measures aren’t always for snooping, as some people,  especially students, might think.

Outside of being able to fully understand the source and context of the fire, the security cameras provided something more valuable. Curtis explained that “100 percent” of the cleanup costs have been covered by insurance, thanks largely in part to the security video, which helped extensively in securing the insurance claim.

Additionally, the event’s impacted area of the school may actually end up directly benefiting from the situation. Curtis noted that a trophy case in the hallway, which is next to the epicenter, fell victim to the flooding. That provided an opportunity to update and expand it.

There are also some further possibilities for the area. Brown and Kirsten Campbell, another CHRHS art teacher, are currently working on an art display board that will be placed there, with help from the school’s ‘hatchery’ program.

Going forward, CHRHS still needs more time to fully clean up the mess, but it’s also come a long way in the past couple of months. Heath stressed that, “other than the lingering issues with the gym, everything else is done.”

With a supportive community evident, newfound faith in the school’s security, and construction underway, with the gym likely to be complete in time for the winter sports season, spirits at CHRHS remain high.