Chargers get new digs
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on August 14, 2013 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Joseph Hackett hugs his daughter, Abigail, 7, this morning before leaving her to her first day as a Wayne Country Day second-grader.
Construction of a new high school wing at Wayne Country Day School was finished just in time for the new term, which starts today.
There are still a few projects remaining in the second piece of the three-phase expansion first announced in 2011. The $5 million capital campaign will ultimately double the size of the 40-year-old private school.
The high school addition features six new classrooms and two science labs, as well as visual and performing arts classrooms.
All that is left to be done on this phase is the administrative wing and library expansion, said Headmaster Todd Anderson.
"As soon as we're done, we will move into the auditorium with seating for 100," he said of the third phase. "But the most important thing of the project part of phase two is that the high school wing is finished."
The new addition is designed to accommodate 160 students, Anderson said. Currently, the school has 107 students at the high school level.
"We have got six general classrooms, we have two science laboratory classrooms, one for physical science and one for biological science, and then we have the college counseling center and visual arts classroom and performing arts classroom," he explained.
The general classrooms measure 1,028 square feet, he said, while the science labs are 1,470 square feet. The visual arts classroom is 2,270 square feet and the performing arts class is 3,560 square feet.
The space formerly occupied by the high school will convert to an intermediate area for grades 7 and 8, he said.
"Now we have a dedicated space for lower and middle school science," he said. "Also, art and music have dedicated space now just for the early years and lower school."
Anderson also said he is pleased to be able to report that the school is finally tearing down its portable classrooms.
"Now everyone is under one roof," he said. "Everything is enclosed, including the breezeway between the main classrooms and the gym."
The parking lot has also been expanded by 40 spaces and was resurfaced over the summer.
While he anticipates many favorable comments from students, parents and visitors to the school, Anderson said the biggest compliment has already been heard from alumni.
"Previous alums from the '70s and '80s have said, 'It looks exactly the way it did the day that I walked out,'" Anderson said. "Now, we have got kids that graduated two years ago and they're walking around and they're lost."
It's also a great thing to have up-to-date furnishings and equipment, he noted.
"Not everything is in yet," he said. "All the Promethean boards and technology is not in yet, but certainly by the end of September it should be in."