Eastside High Students Squeeze Into Temporary Space, But See Some Advantages.

CAMDEN – Although the temporary Eastside High School building is smaller than the old building, senior Caleigh Moon emphasizes the positive.

“Because we’re in a smaller building, I get to see my friends more,” said Moon, a 17-year-old senior. That social benefit is important, he said, adding that the smaller quarters also help him make new friends from students he had not met before.

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When Camden City School District schools opened this year, the 542 Eastside students relocated to the former Cramer School on Mickle Street because their old school – Eastside, formerly Woodrow Wilson, on Federal Street – will be demolished and a new $105-million school will be built in its place.

But the schedule calls for the new school to open in 2029, which means several classes of Eastside students will graduate from the former elementary school that was built in 1913 and closed in 2021.

If the new Eastside High does not open until fall 2029 (the district hopes for an earlier opening), today’s fourth graders will be the first freshmen in the new building.

But some students understand that the sacrifices that they are making by attending the temporary school provide for the investment in a new school for students who will follow them.

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“I feel a little sad, but I feel it’s a step in the right direction,” Tyrone Washam, an 18-year-old senior and varsity basketball player, said of spending his last year in temporary digs.

Senior Moon agreed with Washam and said that completing high school in a temporary building makes way for improvements to be enjoyed by younger students, such as his brother in fifth grade.

There are sacrifices.

The auto shop, which had garage equipment and real cars to learn from in the old building, now is taught on theory, with no hands-on work. That will change when a modular trailer is installed on the school property with the old equipment, said Principal Gloria Martinez-Vega.

Gym classes and the basketball team’s practices and games must be off site, because the old elementary school gym is too small.

Physical education students each day are bused to the Salvation Army Kroc Center for their classes. Home basketball games will be split between Morgan Village Middle School and Camden High School.

“It is sad, not being able to play at Eastside,” said Washam, who has played varsity ball for three years.

Star Cebollero, a 16-year-old junior, is in the choir and said she misses the “massive theater” in the old Eastside High School. But the more intimate atmosphere in the temporary building has introduced drama studies to her, and she is learning acting.

Principal Martinez-Vega led a tour of the temporary quarters on Monday, inviting journalists to visit anywhere they chose.

The hallway floors were shiny. Fresh paint seemed to coat everything. And the colors were vibrant – particularly the Eastside Tiger Orange present throughout the building.

The former elementary school halls were not crowded during a change in classes.

Probably most striking is reflected by the demographics of the school: Anywhere you walk, students and teachers in the halls and the classrooms converse in Spanish, especially in the bilingual classes.

About three out of four students are Latino.

Martinez-Vega said she was amazed to see how the students adapted after a few days.

“I thought there were going to be a lot of challenges, but because of the planning we haven’t encountered them,” she said.

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