This year, there has been a change of classroom numbers in every single school in the Puyallup School District, including Puyallup High School.

Even though such an abrupt change may seem random and without reason, Principal David Sunich provides deeper insight into the thinking behind the alteration of the classroom numbers.

“It is a district-wide room number change and it has to do with the coordination with the emergency responders in Pierce County,” Sunich said. “If there was an emergency at any one of our schools, any responder of policy or medical that arrived would know what the numbering system was going to be like at a school.”

Sunich also revealed that there is a significant working pattern to the numbering system, despite it being somewhat difficult to follow.

“There is some rhyme and reason to it. It is the same in every building. It is just going to take us some time to get used to the change. Each building is numbered, each floor is numbered and then they go in sequential order around the building in the same direction,” Sunich said.

Some students find the pattern that the numbers follow to be inconvenient.

“There is no reason to change the room numbers. We did not get new rooms and nothing was added,” junior Emma Thuline said.

A common issue that students had with the new numbers is that they thought one room number was on a certain side of the building, or on a certain floor of the building, when the number was actually on the opposite side of the building, or in a completely different building altogether.

            “You cannot just cut across the hallway to the other numbers. You have to go around. Some numbers are in a completely different building but you would not know that,” senior Sophia Barton said.

However, making the proper adjustments to work around the change of numbers proves to be effective and perhaps even encourages students to find the quickest path to all of their classes, rather than using the same route for every class.

“I just had to memorize which stairs to go up instead of walking to the other stairs and having to go all the way around the other side of the building. Just find something that works for you. If you feel like going the long way then kudos to you,” Barton said.

It turns out that adapting to the change is not as difficult as some students first thought.

“The new room numbers were confusing at first. It was like, wait they are on the other side? Now I do not really notice the new numbers. I guess on the first day I did but now I am just used to them, so it is not really that complicated,” senior Ciara Hess said.

The new room numbers are a permanent change and new signs have already been put outside all the classrooms.

And the minor inconvenience may actually prove to be a major advantage in the future if there ever was an emergency.

“I think that it could be a positive impact. If there ever were an emergency, it would allow those who responded to more quickly support and keep the kids safe,” Sunich said.