Students walk into their new school on November 12.

Earhart students move into their new building

A student's reaction when entering her new classroom.

Students at Earhart Environmental Magnet couldn't contain their excitement as they moved into their new school. They gasped as they walked into the building and cheered when they saw their new classrooms for the first time.

"This is the most awesome room I've ever seen in all my life!" exclaimed one fourth-grade student.

"It's so pretty!" exclaimed another.

"This is fabulous," said Sandy Mog, fourth-grade teacher. "The best part was seeing the kids' faces as they came into the classroom and saw how beautiful it is and how much room we have now."

Kindergarten students practice walking to the lunchroom.

Construction wrapped up early November on the new Earhart. On November 12, the students met at the old school to pack up their desks. They walked through their old school and past the portables for the last time before they walked over to the new school.

"So long old school," students said as they left their old classrooms.

“We are very excited to be in our new building that supports our mission of improving and maintaining our environment,” said Chris Waterbury, principal at Earhart.

Students gasp when they saw the new gym for the first time. The gym is also a FEMA safe room.

“To support our environmental magnet theme, we will have large windows for natural lighting, preferred parking for fuel efficient vehicles, automatic lights in classrooms to conserve energy, recycling alcoves in the school, a neighborhood recycling center and an outdoor courtyard. In the future, we will be adding nature trails within our existing eleven acres that will enhance outdoor learning opportunities for our students,” he said.

Besides a brand-new building, students sat at brand-new desks and were excited about the new SmartBoards installed in every classroom. The old building wasn't able to support the technology that students now use to enhance their learning. 

"It's nice that our students now have the same technology as so many other schools have," Mog said.

Current and former students and staff wrote farewell messages on the walls of the old Earhart.

As a final farewell, current and former students and staff wrote messages on the walls of the old Earhart about their memories of the school. Some writings were sentimental about the old building, some were thankful for the education they received at Earhart and some students had a sense of humor. Student Noah Long wrote, “I will miss Earhart because the lunch room and the gym are going to be separate. I will never be able to kick a ball in the kitchen again.”

The original school will be demolished to make room for parking and more outdoor learning opportunities. The school arranged to demolish the building with minimal impact to the existing trees and plants surrounding the old building.

Earhart’s new school can hold 450 students and features an environmental lab, library with a computer room, two music rooms, an art room, cafeteria, parent involvement center and a multipurpose room that is a FEMA tornado safe room. Because of significant rains in the spring, the construction schedule was impacted at Earhart, delaying the school’s completion.   



November 12, 2008