By:  Niven Achenjang

Thanks to some extra funding, The Gatton Academy will be expanding from roughly 120 students to around 200 students. With this expansion comes the need for more space, so Florence Schneider Hall – Gatton’s residence hall – is currently being renovated and built upon. In the meantime, Gatton has moved to Bates this year.

As expected, living in Bates is different from living in Schneider. One of the more stark differences, is the lack of Schneider’s floor culture in Bates. In Schneider, each of the four floors had its own personality and students often built their strongest friendships with people on their floor. We all still interacted with people outside of our floor, but many of us felt closest to those on the same floor. Moving to Bates, the majority of boys live on the third floor, the majority of girls live on the second floor, and relatively few boys and girls live on the first floor – separated by a lobby. This has weakened the strong sense of floor culture that was apparent at Schneider, but at the same time, it has allowed people to spend more time with those who lived on different floors last year.

Another thing missing from Bates is common rooms. In Schneider, each floor had a large common room in the middle where people would often hang out, play some games, do homework, etc. At Bates, there are no common rooms on floor. In fact, all of the common space is on first floor: the lobby, the classroom, and the ping pong room. This can be seen as a positive or a negative. Less common space means, well, less common space – less space to hang out. It also means, however, that people are easier to find if you are looking for them and that different groups of people are more likely to be in the vicinity of each other and spend time with each other.

Compared to those two, most of the changes that moving to Bates presented are minor. We no longer have an elevator, but flights of stairs are short so it is not a big deal; we are farther from classes, but closer to food so the merit of that depends on priorities; etc. In the end, how you view the switch to Bates for the year is up to your point of view.

By:  Niven Achenjang

One of the most dreaded aspects of high school is the school food. At the Academy, this same sentiment does not hold. Being able to live on a university campus for your last two years of high school is great, but not just for the challenging courses. Arguably better than the academic advantages of Gatton are its nourishment advantages.

On WKU’s campus are several places to eat with a variety of foods. Want some pizza? Check out Papa John’s or Da Vinci’s. Looking for a good burger? Try Steak & Shake or Burger Studio. In the mood for chicken? We have Chick Fil-A and Popeye’s. If you are craving something a little bit healthier, then consider Subway, Burrito Bowl, or Fresh Foods. All eating options on campus – not just the ones listed here – offer better food than your typical high school.

To make things better, most of it is essentially free. Every week, as a Gatton student, we get 19 meal swipes. Nearly all places on campus have value meals. These are pre-chosen meals offered by the restaurant that cost a single meal swipe. Most of them are a food item (6-in sub, slice of pizza, chicken sandwich), a side (cookies, breadsticks, fries), and a fountain drink. Some restaurants go a step further and let you pay for items off of the value meal using multiple meal swipes. The value of a meal swipe is $3.45 so I could, for example, get a brownies from Papa John’s – which cost $6.00 – for two meal swipes. In addition to the meal swipes, we also receive 75 meal plan dollars which can be spent on any food item on campus, and roll over between Fall and Spring semesters.

Finally, not all academy dining is done on campus. Gatton students often eat in town, getting to their restaurants via either walking or a suburban driven by an RC. Bowling Green has many more restaurants than most cities of its size, so eating off campus is a great way to try something new or different. The only drawback is you have to use real money. No matter where you are eating though, you will agree that food here trumps food at most high schools.