Bring Back the Pit
By Haley Scholting
The current Pierce High School has been going on since its first school year in 1996-1997, but there are many untold stories that students attending this high school do not know of. One of these stories is that the school used to have a pit where the commons is now. The pit brought a sense of community within the school, where kids of all grades could connect.
“I loved the pit. It gave our commons a little flair, and I think the students enjoyed hanging out there casually. It was just a fun area. During activities, we had a rope around this area so people could easily see it was there; otherwise, it could have been dangerous if you didn't see it and would fall,” Deb Koehlmoos, a teacher at Pierce High School for 39 years states.
Many schools around the area have a pit or a unique gathering area where students can talk with one another and be social. For example, schools like Norfolk Public, Wakefield, and Columbus Lakeview all have a pit. The pit that used to be at Pierce High School was roughly 2-3 stairs deep, carpeted, and lunch tables sat in the pit. There was also a half-circle, mini stage on the edge of the pit. Today, the outline of the little stage can still be seen on the north side of the commons, by the microwaves.
Pierce graduate Jamie Zimmerman gives her thoughts on the greatness of the pit.
“It functioned more as a social area for everyone, especially in the mornings and after school. We would sit and hang out and usually finish any homework that we didn’t get done the night before! They even had a few lunch tables down there for us to sit at and obviously use during lunch.”
Today, many of our students would love to have the experience of the pit. It would be a great way to gain new friendships and talk to more people throughout the school that a person would normally never get to.
Zimmerman continues, “I would say my favorite part about it was just being able to hang out and socialize with all my friends and classmates in the mornings. It was just a given that everyone would be there.”
Junior Josie Painter comments on what having a pit at our school would mean to her.
“I have seen quite a few schools because of speech, and many of them have a pit or pit-like area for students to hang out in. I think that it is such a fun way to hang out in school, study, or just get some work done. I wish we had a space like that, even if it can’t be a pit.”
The pit was a way to not only study, but a way for the whole school to connect, and while the reasons it was filled in were for safety purposes, students can not help but wish they still had something like that. However, for now students must only reminisce on the fun stories told from the time Pierce had the pit.
