As freshmen, students often struggle to find their way around the school. Navigating such a big building isn’t always easy, but after those first couple weeks of freshman year, the building isn’t so scary anymore. Students walk the halls with ease, strolling to and from class with confidence. However, despite the familiarity students may achieve with the layout of our building, there are many places that remain unseen.

Costume Loft

Every student or staff member at FHC is surely familiar with the auditorium. However, what lies backstage remains a mystery to a large majority of students, and even some teachers and staff. 

Perhaps one of the most intriguing features of the backstage is the costume loft. Accessible only by a daunting, nearly 20-foot ladder which scales the wall, it is home to the Spotlight Player’s collection of dresses, suits, shoes, accessories used to dress the actors.  

Elaina Rainwater, junior and Costumes Crew Head for the Spotlight Player’s most recent production, “Emma! A Pop Musical,” spent a good amount of time in the costumes loft leading her crew this semester. 

“There are some fairy lights up there… and a little mirror and a place to try on jewelry,” Rainwater said. “You see [the loft] and it’s like a little time capsule of specifically Costumes memories, and it makes me really happy to be a part of [Costumes Crew].”

Schott’s Back Rooms

Home now to broadcasting equipment, photography backdrops, and the snack locker or “snocker” of the Publications Editors, the backroom of 139 has an intriguing history. At the birth of our school, it functioned as a space for photographers to develop film from the events they’d shot photos of. 

“When I began here in 2005, the Digital Photojournalism class shot their photos on film and then developed them in the darkroom,” Mr. Matthew Schott , FHC Publications Advisor, said. “Some students loved the experience, but each semester there was always a handful of students who’d be stuck in the complete pitch black because they couldn’t load their film into a developing tank from the roll of film. They’d always come out looking pretty dazed once they got it after like 30 minutes or so in the complete dark.”

Thrive Room

Room 1 has served many purposes over the years. For a long time, it was simply a meeting room. But when you walk past it now, you’ll almost always find the door open to reveal a dimly lit room filled with bean bags, fidgets and calming decor. Completely transformed, the space is now dedicated to giving students experiencing high levels of anxiety and stress a safe place to relax and cope – to help them thrive. 

Mrs. Kalinda Dixon, behavior support specialist, is responsible for the Thrive Room and assisting the students who use it and has witnessed firsthand the positive impact it’s had on the school community. 

“It’s an oasis that you can come in to retreat, to reset, reregulate and reenergize,” Mrs. Dixon said. “I’m really proud of the program I designed… [the school] gave me the launching pad… and I feel like it’s been extremely helpful and beneficial [for students].”

Book Room 

Everybody knows that if you need a book, the Learning Commons is the place to go. However, very few people know about the Book Room – a storage room with bookshelves on every wall filled with stacks of books. 

Unavailable to students, the room is one of the English Department’s best kept secrets. It holds all of the class copies for books assigned in classes for all four grades – from “To Kill A Mockingbird” to “Ender’s Game,” the tiny, cramped room holds thousands of plays and novels read by students over the years.