Three weeks into the school year, two weeks moved into their new home, the faculty and students who make up the Star Lane Center are still getting used to being in a building designed for learning rather than lunch.

"We liked the old building," teacher Patti Kimble said, referring to the former buffet restaurant converted into a unique learning environment in 1998. So when consulting with architects on how the old Fairdale Elementary School at 15th and Beverly streets would look once renovated, teachers reinforced to them that it shouldn't look like a school.

"It's a work environment," Kimble said. "It looks like the Star-Tribune."

Like the old Star Lane, the new setting revolves around a large central room, filled with computers. Several tutor rooms line the sides. Challenging typical classroom designs, Kimble said the teachers told the architects to make the rooms smaller than originally planned.

Still, the new-paint smell, the spotless floors and a science lab that wasn't once a kitchen aren't what some Star Lane students are used to.

"(Students came in) and they saw a school and they were disappointed," Kimble said. "Others saw a school and said: 'Wow! We're for real!'"

Taylor Herbst, a sophomore in her second year at the school, said she and other students there miss the old building and its unique characteristics, like the ability to "take a shower under the roof," it was so leaky.

To help them make the transition, the silk screens decorating the last place will soon be hanging down here. The big blue table from the old school made the move over as well.

"For some kids, walking in and seeing that made it feel all right," Kimble said.

Tuesday afternoon, Herbst, 16 other students and three teachers read through the newspaper during a current events discussion, and debated whether undocumented workers or the business owners who hire them are to blame for immigration problems in the States.

Some students left the school to go collect water samples and algae for a project. And a guest speaker came in to talk about the effects of extreme, Everest-sized elevation on the human body in preparation for a field trip up Casper Mountain.

That part of Star Lane is still there for the students who like that they can spend half the school day in a setting that isn't textbook- and test-based.

"It has the same feel," Cassidy said. "It's new and old at the same time. It's almost like a Zen."

The Natrona County School District has always been supportive of Star Lane, Kimble said. But budget problems have threatened the program's existence before, and the old building, with its leaky roof and stained carpets, gave Star Lane a temporary feel, she said.

Not anymore.

"For the first time, it feels permanent," Kimble said.

Contact reporter Cory Matteson at (307) 266-0589 or cory.matteson@casperstartribune.net.