The agriculture area is getting a well-needed change, with the big barn being first in line. Construction began on May 15 and will finish within the next few months. The only difference is it will take place from 3:40 pm to 11:00 pm to protect the safety of our students from asbestos exposure. 

Mr. Lepore, our agriculture teacher, said, “This barn’s renovation was duly needed-its here for about 60 years with no change added to it-I do not even like letting my students in the back of it because of how unstable it is.”

There are two barns in the ag, a small one and a big one. The big one has been at our school since the 1950s and is used for storage, while the little barn keeps the food. North Hollywood has been under construction for a while now. With everything getting remodeled, the barn is bound to happen. 

Andrew Naves, a Senior at NoHo and FFAs Sentinel, said,” I have been on the baseball team since construction started; it has been kinda an inconvenience because the field we used to play on was beautiful-the one now does not live up to the old one-for me it held a lot of good memories-so I am not shocked they are going to start in the Ag next.”

Construction helped speed things up on redoing the barn. It was going to happen either way because of health/safety hazards. The barn has asbestos, mold, and broken wood pieces everywhere. According to epa.gov, “Exposure to asbestos increases your risk of developing lung disease-In general, the greater the asbestos exposure, the greater the chance of developing harmful health effects.” 

“Before construction started, the district had to inspect the barn; it was deemed unsafe. I had to remove all the hay there because we use it to feed the animals,” stated Mr.Lepore.

The barn used to hold hay about a month ago. Mr. Lepore and the volunteers moved everything into a storage bin on the construction site. It took a long process to put it in the new spot because the storage bin is next to the new gym. Now anytime students need to get hay, they have to go all the way to the back of the west gym and back down to the farm.

Edward Mateo, FFAs president, said, “It was tedious removing all the hay from the big barn-it took probably 2-3 hours just for hay-but the bin that holds the hay is annoying to open because of how the lock works.”

To prepare for construction, Mr. Lepore threw out as much junk as he could and kept the items the farm needed. There were books, papers, and many outdated materials from the years the barn has been there.

Ashley Figueroa-Ramos, a Junior at NoHo who helps in the Ag, said, “It is crazy seeing how to run down and destroyed the inside of the barn looks-I was helping them move things out and just being in there was creepy enough, especially that one room with a broken door and huge piece of wood that is hanging from the ceiling of the barn.”

The new barn will have all new walls, windows, and functioning rooms. It will still be its signature red color. Since there were so many things in there, the workers had to bring not one but two 200-pound trash bins. Which means more work and cleaning will need to happen. 

Michael Ariagga, a senior at NoHo who helps in the Ag, said: “We knew Mr. Lepore was a hoarder but not this bad; it is just crazy seeing how much stuff was in that barn because it does not seem like it can hold that much stuff”.

Pretty soon, the rest of the Ag will be remodeled and expanded. It is in the works but not yet confirmed. The Spanish bungalows are going to be removed. That section will then be a part of the Ag. They will expand the Donkey pen and possibly the goat pen. There will even be a new rabbit house and pig barn. It will happen in the future. Not now, with there still more construction to do on the way.

Ms. Benitez is a psychology teacher at Noho who has her classroom right next to the big barn. She says, “I am glad they are renovating the barn because it can now be functional for all the students in FFA and not be an off-limits area.”

Luckily, the barn would not take long to remodel. It would be nice seeing a newly functional barn. For now, the Ag area will be closed from time to time. When the new school year comes around, the new students of FFA will be able to visit the new big red barn.