As the weather gets warmer, the long walk across Etowah’s open campus is not so dreaded anymore. Then it gets too hot, and students find themselves groaning about the walk again. It seems that having an open campus has an equal number of pros and cons.

  “I don’t like having an outdoor campus when it rains, but I love it in the spring when it’s getting hot,” Kaitlin Faust, senior, said.

 Etowah is the only school in Cherokee County with an open campus and multiple buildings, including Etowah East across the street. Having an open campus has its pros, especially when the weather is nice. It gives students a break to go outside and get some vitamin D. It also makes school feel more open and not so trapped.

  “I don’t mind it, as long as the weather is nice,” Siarra Crane, senior, said.

  While an open campus helps prepare students for how college is set up, it can also cause a lot of problems, like making it easier to cut classes. There are too many entrances into the campus, that no one person can monitor them all.

  “It’s unsafe because a person with bad intentions could easily walk on campus, and is also a huge inconvenience when the weather gets bad,” Keona Udarbe, sophomore, said.

  The safety and security of the school is at a disadvantage compared to other high schools. Most schools have just one or two buildings, making it easy to watch all access points. With an open campus, it is a lot harder to account for all students.