It’s not every day you wake up and you find out you’re moving high schools. When Memorial High School (MHS) freshman Charvi Saxena heard that her home was rezoned to a new high school in Frisco, Panther Creek High School (PCHS), she was shocked. 

However, she has a few plans in mind for the new school.

Lone Star High School (LSHS), with a population of 2,090, and MHS, with a population of 1,653, were both close to being over capacity than the size they had been built for. Thus, PCHS was added to Frisco in order to even the population between LSHS and MHS. Certain students from those schools in proximity to PCHS were zoned largely to relieve this circumstance.

Ryan Solano, the PCHS principal, says that the official mascot for the school is the Panthers. In addition, he also claims to have big plans for the high school.

“My vision has always been to create a place where staff and students love to be,” said Solano.  “My desire is that students love learning and love being a part of Panther Creek High School.”

“Our ultimate goal will be to prepare students for the future in a highly engaging environment,” he said.  “It’s exciting to be a principal of what is going to be an incredible place for our students, staff, and community, and I hope everyone else feels the same. ”

Meanwhile, Saxena stated she is looking forward to being a part of PCHS.  

“I am currently in the student council at Memorial High School,” said Saxena. “So I always have a tendency to make changes around the school and make new friends, and I hope to do the same at Panther Creek.”

“I was honestly furious when I heard the news at first, but figured I should try to think optimistically and think of this as a new experience,” she said. 

One of the current assistant principals at IHS, Renee Sena, plans to take that role to PCHS as an assistant principal there. She shared her plans for this opportunity.

“I am excited for an opportunity to continue growing in my career and assist in the opening of a new campus,” said Sena. “Emphasizing student leadership and opportunities for growth has been a continued focus of what I provide for students, and I will continue with this goal in mind.”

“I was given an offer to be part of this important opportunity because I have experience as an assistant principal in Frisco ISD and I am supportive of efforts to move to a more progressive education system,” she said. “I am thrilled to bring some opportunities to Panther Creek High School, and I am very excited to be part of this new endeavor.”

Despite the hassle, Solano plans to make PCHS “stand out” among the other schools.

“Our students will be learning through PBL, Project Based Learning,” Solano said. “We believe that this will help build skills that they will need later in life to be successful.”

“I would also love to create unique and rich traditions with the students that other campuses may not have,” he said.

However, regardless of the benefits, there are disadvantages to this sudden zoning.

“Even though this opportunity is great, I will miss my friends and teachers at MHS and the changes I have made there,” Saxena said. “I really felt like family there, which is funny because I always hated school.”

Though Saxena and Sena have different plans for their future at PCHS, Solano says that he foresees a passionate future.

“Panther Creek will be collaborative in everything that we do, which is exciting,” Solano said. “As our school motto will say, ‘we are better together.’”