March 13, 2024 | The Lorain High School cafeteria has a fresh look and new, flexible seating, allowing students to choose how they dine together.
Best of all, the new four-person booths, high-top tables and chairs, and round tables and stools that would look right at home in any café or restaurant were inspired by the desires of Lorain High students. Superintendent Dr. Jeff Graham solicited designs for new seating during a meeting with the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council in 2023.
This group of school leaders meets several times a year with Dr. Graham and his leadership team to share ideas on how Lorain High can be a better place for them to learn. Sometimes, the ideas have a quick turnaround, like more student-focused fun activities like talent shows, Easter egg hunts, and sidewalk chalk days that remind us to embrace the kid in all of us.
Other ideas require careful thought and planning. So, with students planting the seed for a new look to their dining space, the district got to work investing more than $300,000 in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds in the improvement project.
School Specialty, a Wisconsin-based furniture company, delivered the new seating earlier this month, and students saw the new layout for the first time this week. The seating allows for more than 450 students to dine together comfortably.
“Our Titans deserve the best that we can offer them, from the quality of instruction and course offerings to the surroundings where they spend several hours each day,” shared Lorain High Principal Melissa Cheers. “We want our students to take pride in their school and feel welcome. There was an intentional design to the cafeteria with Titan logos on furnishings, flexible seating, and areas with charging ports.”