Students may not need a map at Diamond Bar High, but it will certainly help now that they have renumbered all the rooms at the local high school. After all, Walnut Valley Unified added a whole new math wing over the summer with 20 more classrooms.

The massive two-story building has been slipped in between the English building and the new aquatic center, back by the athletic fields. School officials figured the addition of the new math building and the aquatic center made it a good time to renumber the rooms.

"I've always been confused by our numbering system, so I volunteered to figure out a logical system when we added the math center," explained Randy Thomas, technology coordinator at Diamond Bar High.

Instead of being labeled with letters A through G, the Brahmas' buildings are now labeled 100 to 900. The large letters on the top of the wings have been replaced with numbers.

Returning students will find a ninth building open on campus. Work crews are finishing up the $4.5 million math building.

"We are grateful that Novus Construction agreed to finish the building three months ahead of schedule," said Jeff Bloedorn, director of maintenance and facilities. "Diamond Bar High really needed the additional classrooms, and we wanted them ready for the new school year. They add more excitement to the opening of a new semester."

Staff and students will find an impressive math wing with quiet, comfortable classrooms. Classes on the top floor even offer natural lighting courtesy of solar skylights.

"Teachers won't even have to turn on the lighting on a sunny day," Bloedorn said. "They just adjust the built-in shutters to get the right amount of light."

Dual pane insulated windows and walls will keep the energy bills down, as well as keeping the new classrooms quiet and comfortable. The high-tech rooms offer digital connections to the Internet and digital projectors hanging from the ceilings.

"We even bought special Ergotron mobile desks for the teachers," the Walnut Valley director pointed out.

In fact, the desks are a compact A/V hub that consolidates the teacher's technology tools onto a single mobile classroom cart. This includes the instructor's laptop, keyboard and mouse, as well as portable document camera. It is even height-adjustable, allowing teachers to change from a sitting to a standing position whenever they want.

Students will find new purple desks that fit right in with the Brahmas' purple and gold.

Of course, the building features the latest safety features including fire sprinklers, security system and intercoms. It also has an elevator for wheelchairs. Each floor also contains a workroom for the teachers and a coordinator's office, as well as bathrooms.

Freshman Andre Watson was picking up his textbooks for his first year at Diamond Bar High. The 14-year-old was surprised by all the work going on at the Brahmas campus.

"He's very excited about going to Diamond Bar High," agreed his mother Amber. "This is a very nice campus. I know he'll do well here."