When Blue Valley Southwest first opened in 2010, it was a completely different place than it is now. There were no cliques among students, and then principal Dr. Tyler Alexander was a social studies teacher. Alexander worked as a social studies teacher at Southwest for five years before leaving to work at BVNW as an associate principal. Last year he returned to BVSW, working as an administrator.

Another staff member who was in the building when it first opened was receptionist Meredith Stewart, who said many things have changed since the school opened.

 “I think kids have gotten kind of cliquey,” Stewart said. “There really weren’t [any cliques back then] because nobody knew each other.” 

At first, a lot of people didn’t want to move to BVSW, a lot of students left during its first and second year of being open. This caused a shortage of applicants in clubs and teams, thus making every student needed.

“[Some kids] were forced to come, and they didn’t want to be here,” Stewart said “So we lost a lot of kids that semester.”

Social studies teacher Kathryn Pinto, who also opened the building, said the class schedules were also very different. 

“We’re on an almost full block schedule with all classes meeting on Fridays, and we had a different schedule at the time,” Pinto said. “Back then, there were 7-class days from Monday to Friday. There was also Timber Time, which occurred every single day.” 

Whilst it is difficult for people to adjust to the changes in the school since it opened, it was also quite a bit of work to open the school itself.
“[It was] a lot of work to open the school,” Stewart said. 

However, she said there are benefits that come from being at the school for quite some time. 

“You know my benefit is knowing the building really well and from time to time people still coming up [and ask] do you know where [this is]? Or do you know how we used to handle this?” Stewart said. 

Opening the school can be difficult itself, but there are other issues that come along with being a new teacher or staff member at the school.

“It’s very hard to be in a new building,” Pinto said. “Because you’re working with administrators you’ve often never met before. You’re working with a new counseling staff. You’re working with new members of the department. You’re trying to get to know each other and you may not have a reputation with the student body.”

It’s beneficial for teachers who have been at BVSW for a while to build a reputation with good student relationships. 

“Everybody just got along and was fun, it was very, very fun,” Stewart said.