We all know that North Atlanta High School is a superlative place for “teaching and learning.”But did we also know that our 11-story building is also a place for incredibly dynamic panoramic views? Maybe underclassmen don’t know this, so mired are they in North Atlanta’s lower levels, but our towering building features views normally associated with those found in resort hotels. Now, it might not feel “5 Star”in that English Literature class of yours, but look up –and consider our building’s views!

When you have a few moments –not during class when you should be paying attention to something important like Coordinate Algebra, mind you –go the 11th Floor and soak in what you see. I recently did. From the top floor, on either side of the building, is a vast valley of trees. To the east is the skyline of Buckhead and to the west is Cumberland Mall and its bustling commercial environs. From the top floor, there are avian species that can be seen. Glance out and you’re bound to see a cardinal or a brown thrasher flying back and forth search of prey or maybe carrying something in their beaks, possibly small twigs suitable for next expansion projects. Not all flying objects around us are wildlife. Occasionally military planes, likely from nearby Dobbins Air Reserve Base, come into view. These mechanical birds of war circle around Cumberland Mall and then head back to their base.

The entire encompassing tree scape makes us seem like residents of a soul-calming eco-environment. Thanks to expansive floor-to-ceiling plate-glass windows, we also get a front-row seat on the changing of the seasons. Along with shifting colors, come unmatched views of shifting weather patterns. Here’s one unique thing about our school: it’s those amusing panic attacks students have when faced with encroaching thunder and lightning displays. Obscuring sheets of rain hit classroom windows with impressive violence. When dark thunderclouds swirl in the sky, class discussions become altogether secondary. Heady chit-chat about economic theory gives way to altogether-more-immediate meteorological considerations.

Back in underclass realms, on middle-building floors like the fifth and sixth, the view can be level with the tree canopy. From these floors, a student might see a hungry squirrel on a nearby branch in search of nut.

Toward the end of the school day, the building’s east windows afford views of columns of yellow school buses, parked or coming in, empty vehicular vessels all awaiting the building’s daily disgorging of student riders. To the left is baseball field, and in the distance is Warrior Field, where the football team practices and keeps hope alive during yet-another doleful gridiron season. Directly below is the glistening lake, the brown aquatic realm around us that’s home to fish, snakes, turtles and other swimming species.

Such a unique school building! And, oh, the wonders that a top-floor view affords! It almost makes this overly sentient junior want to stay after school, for several hours, forgoing homebound pleasures and pursuits, all to watch the fiery reds and oranges and lavenders commingle and extinguish in sunset glory over the distant Cobb County ridges and unknown places beyond.

All these views –all these thoughts –occasioned by a visit to our building’s 11th Floor. Huh. Maybe I should go up there more often.