Imagine Prep Surprise has changed in a lot of ways for the 11 or 12 years it has been open. The school grew in the amount of staff and students, the school changed physically, and even had some academic changes. 

“When Imagine Prep first opened there was a lot of misconception from the public as to what type of school we were,” Academic Counselor and Assistant Principal Amanda Mecca said. 

Since this was the first year Imagine Prep was open people didn’t know what to think of it but after a little bit there was a change in leadership. 

“After the first year the school opened, there was a change of leadership and it helped change the image of the school a little bit,” Mecca explained. 

This change helped people to see that Imagine Prep had potential. Though what really helped the school grow is when it partnered with Cambridge.

“Seven school years ago we partnered with Cambridge and that is when academically we started to see a shift in our student’s performance,” Mecca said. 

 Mecca has been working at the school for 11 years now and has seen the good and the bad at the school. 

Tim Hulstrom, who works with the support staff has been working at the school for around 10 years. He has seen change both physically and through the people.

“I’ve seen a change in the school itself, the physical and in the administration, parents, and students,” Hulstrom said. 

Imagine Prep Surprise as we all know has sixth through 12th graders, but when it first opened the school didn’t have that.

“We started with ninth through 12th graders, then we went to building one year at a time,” Hulstrom shared.

When the school first opened, it only had four grade levels,  now it has seven. That is a huge growth for the school. 

“When we started there weren’t a lot of teachers, we almost doubled our staff,” Hulstrom said.

Since the staff was growing, the school had to make some physical changes to it. As some students may know, Imagine Prep once had a Media room, which was divided up by walls, to create four separate classrooms, now known as Mr. Zimmerman, Mrs. Werner, Mr. Henderson, and  Mr. Bowley’s rooms. The school also has a computer lab that was divided up into Mrs. Franco, Mr. Andree, and the resource room now. Then the old smart lab now consists of Mrs. Baker, Mr. O’Donnell and Mrs. Robinsons’s classrooms. 

Overall, Imagine Prep has been through so much change, but this change has made the school what it is today. Although change can be good and bad these changes have mainly been positive. Some of the bigger rooms were split up to create more classrooms. which has been a good change.