During the past few months, a select number of classrooms at Branham have served as testing grounds for new furniture. These modern chairs and tables replaced the older, one-piece models.

In the selected classrooms, desks with chairs linked by metal bars were replaced with partially gyroscopic seats and mobile tables. Rooms 19, 21, 23, 26, 70, and 71 were chosen as the classrooms to experience, interact, and review the new furniture. Each room has been testing a different variety of furniture styles, with the intention of finding what styles work best for students.

The new chairs and tables greatly differ from the previous generation. Math and engineering teacher Barbara Schremp commented on the curved shape of the furniture in Room 71, saying, “The desks are kind of curvy and weird, they fit together kind of [interestingly], and what students like is that there’s room whether you’re left-handed or right-handed, that you get in either side of the desk, and that you can easily move it into tables or individual ones.”

Student responses to the new additions were full of positivity and the willingness to adapt.  Teacher Michael Espinoza, who teaches AP Literature and English 1 in Room 21, noticed how students were excited when they saw the new additions to the classroom.

“Everyone was really excited about the new furniture obviously,” Espinoza said. “It was just a lot of positivity at the beginning, and I think even still to this day, they prefer it more than the old furniture for sure.”

Although most of the reviews of the furniture were positive, students had some small flaws to report. For example, as freshman Nicholas Labosky pointed out, many of the chairs being tested have wheels and move around too easily.

“My only complaint about them is that it’s very slick, so you kind of tend to roll around a little bit on the ones with the wheels, probably because of the tile flooring,” Labosky said. “On carpet, it would definitely be a lot better.”

Overall, the sentiments for these new pieces of furniture were positive, as students enjoy the newfound mobility and support that these chairs bring. Branham could see several more classrooms being equipped with the new furniture. The final decision for the furniture that will be chosen is scheduled for Wednesday, May 30.