Since Perry opened in 2007, it has grown and evolved along with every single student attending.
Teachers come and go, new buildings rise from empty dirt lots, and policies change with the passing of time.
These changes have allowed Perry to grow its population and teach new generations of students.
Change is inevitable and according to Principal Dan Serrano, Perry will be enduring a couple growing pains that underclassmen can expect to face in the upcoming years.
One well-known modification that students can expect to see in the upcoming school year is the “Bat Wing,” as Serrano jokingly refers to the new C-building as.
The new C-building will be home to English teachers who previously did not have their own classroom. Currently, there are not enough classrooms for all the teachers on campus.
As a result, travelling teachers must carry all of their teaching supplies in a cart between classes, which is a major disadvantage.
“Think [we] might be living through the ‘big changes’ with the new buildings going up and graduation moving off campus,” Assistant Principal Kevin Ames confirmed.
Other developments at Perry include an entirely new playoff format for football.
“Based on criteria such as strength of schedule, at the end of the 2019 regular season, there will be eight teams chosen for the Open Division while each of the big-school conferences (6A, 5A, and 4A) will still play a 16-team playoff,” informs Richard Obert of Arizona Republic.
At every growing school, there comes a time when the growth must end and the capacity is reached. There is a cycle. A new school is built to conform to the increasing population, as developments among the community continue. The school grows until it reaches its peak.
Then, the population begins to decline as the area ages and young families flock to new cities.
However, Kevin Ames believes Perry could be different; “A surprise might be that we buck the trend and keep getting bigger (adding more students). The conventional thought is that we are done growing, but looking around at all the room to build homes… you never know.”
With the possibilities of further growth, more students could lead to overcrowding, lack of personal connections to the staff, and students vanishing into the background of a larger school.
Despite the benefits or the costs, Perry can expect future changes that current and prospective students can look forward to.
The population of Gilbert, Arizona makes it the sixth-largest municipality in the state, yet it is clear to see that there are plenty of empty spaces that will soon be filled. Will Ames’ prediction become reality or will Perry, as history has shown, eventually stop adding students and become a smaller high school? Only time will tell.