SOCES 101 for New Students
By: Sydney DeVore ‘26 and Valeriya Kashirskaya ‘28
SOCES is a school that offers a wide variety of activities such as amazing sports teams, clubs, and many class choices and electives. The school has many programs, including the Academic Decathlon team, Pentathlon, Battle of the Books, Speech and Debate, a Culinary C-CAP team, Robotics, Band, Science Bowl, and Dance Production. Sports are offered at SOCES year-round for high school students.
For new students, it isn’t too late to sign up for sports later in the year. SOCES has lots of school spirit and getting involved in a sport could completely change the school experience. There are also many clubs on campus that students can sign up for to make new friends and memories.
The campus has been under renovation for a few years now and, as a result, there have been some new buildings at SOCES that opened up last school year. These two new buildings house the science and elective classes. There is a great new band and culinary room, as well as newly furnished science rooms that allow students to be very hands-on with new lab spaces and equipment.
For new students, the campus can be confusing to navigate around at first. There are some important locations where new students should know how to get to and what takes place there. After walking in the front gate, on the right side, one can find the main office, counseling office, and attendance office. On the left side is the library where there are many books available to be checked out. This is also where the book fair takes place. Next to the library is also room 300 which is the college office.
Center circle can be found in the middle of campus. This area is covered in grass and has a concrete stage in the middle. The left-hand side of campus features the cafeteria, the auditorium, and the entrance to the bus gate. On the right side are mostly classrooms.
The backside of campus has the garden and ODL where some campus events take place, like Open Mic. The Gym building behind this has a big gym, a small gym, a weight room, a dance room, and locker rooms. Next to that is the field and the tennis courts which are under construction. In this area, there is also a new playground and more basketball courts.
Additionally, Dr. Crockett shared his thoughts about the Rules Assembly that recently took place. He hopes that students who have been at SOCES longer will help out the new students who have just started their SOCES journey. “I think the biggest thing is that I want them to support each other. When people feel connected, they do well in classes. The most beautiful thing is the inclusivity and diversity,” he said.
