Burlington High School Students Report Feeling Isolated in New Building

The isolation of 250,000 square feet

Forty percent of students at Burlington High School say they feel less connected to their peers since moving into the district’s new facility, the BHS Register reported.

The transition from the school’s former downtown location—a cramped, windowless building housed in a Macy’s—to a massive, modern campus has introduced a physical distance that many students are struggling to bridge. While the new school boasts bright rooms and expansive open spaces, the sheer scale of the architecture is creating unintended social gaps.

“It’s so big you don’t see anybody. I never see anybody. Nobody, nada,” Roslen Wallstrom, a member of the class of 2028, said.

The shift represents a radical change in the daily student experience. In the previous Macy’s building, tighter hallways and fewer stairwells forced frequent, spontaneous interactions. In the new 250,000-square-foot environment, those small, incidental connections are vanishing.

“When you’re walking in the hallway, it is so big, if your friends don’t have classes in the same hallways – you never see them,” Naima Huh-Bond, also of the class of 2028, said. She noted that without shared class schedules, students often miss out on “small connections.”

Designing for connection

The new Burlington High School was built from the ground up with a $200 million budget. Architects and administrators explicitly aimed to solve the limitations of the old downtown site by incorporating windows that span the length of walls and various communal areas.

Principal Sabrina Westdijk stated that the design process included student input to ensure the space would foster both academic success and social cohesion. The plan featured several specific zones intended to facilitate interaction:

Interior courtyards: Designed as secure, comfortable spaces for bringing entire classes outdoors.
Learning lounges: Areas intended for students to sit and engage in dialogue.
The library: Equipped with seating meant to be cozy and welcoming.
The cafeteria: A multi-tiered space featuring patio seating on a balcony to allow for flexible grouping.

Despite these intentional design choices, students and faculty still struggle to move through the building.

Ben Heintz, an English teacher and founder of the student-operated tutoring center Hippocampus, noted that while his fourth-floor classroom is “beautiful,” the building’s layout has diminished his sense of community. He explained that his daily movements rarely overlap with the paths of other staff or students.

“If you drew my line out of string through the part of the school that I go through every day, it doesn’t overlap at all with a large number of other people who are mostly operating in other parts of the building,” Heintz said.

The mental health stakes

The sense of isolation reported by students carries implications beyond mere social inconvenience. According to the CDC, a lack of student connection can lead to measurable drops in both academic performance and overall well-being.

Mike Piche, a therapist at In Rhythm Counseling in South Burlington who specializes in teen counseling, suggested that peer connection is a fundamental pillar of adolescent stability.

“Their sense of connection or lack thereof with their peers is probably one of the greatest determining factors in terms of how stable they feel,” Piche said.

Piche added that when students feel connected to both their peers and their teachers, it fosters mutual respect and helps them feel like part of “something greater than themselves.”

Students want more time with friends during lunch

In response to the survey, students suggested reducing the number of lunch periods to allow for more time with friends. However, Principal Westdijk noted that the logistical requirements of the new building make this difficult.

The previous downtown location benefited from proximity to many restaurants, which meant many upperclassmen left campus for lunch. The new school sees a much higher percentage of the student body utilizing the cafeteria, necessitating more structured lunch periods to accommodate everyone.

Bowen Stephens, a Social Studies teacher and advisor for Student Government, argued that the feeling of belonging is a prerequisite for effective learning. While acknowledging her own bias as an advisor, she noted that the desire to feel a sense of belonging follows closely behind the need to feel safe.

“I think wanting to come to school, and the joy of learning, is directly correlated to how welcoming and authentically yours the space feels,” Stephens said.

Stephens suggested that shared experiences, such as homecoming, assemblies, and trips, along with a renewed investment in advisory programs, could help mitigate the sense of isolation. She expressed optimism that the community will eventually adapt to the new environment.

“I think that it is a shift that we’ll grow into, right?” Stephens said. “Once we sort of figure out where people and places are here. It’ll make a difference.”

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