THE NEW SCHOOL'S bright, airy hallways are a sharp contrast to
the original Skeena Junior High. Here, Skeena’s new principal,
Dave Bartley (centre) is flanked by another new face to the

school, vice principal Dave Crawley, left. They join school district
superintendent Randy Smallbrugge, who is pictured on the right,
as they pause to take in the view on the second floor.

HANDSOME SUPPORT beams made from B.C.
wood soar above the school’s wide, open hallways,
reaching to the skylight-dotied roof. There are so
many windows and skylights, natural light will spill
into classrooms and offices on the darkest day.

The new school is... cool

Take a tour of Terrace’s newest school, Skeena Junior Secondary, opening Tuesday — on time and on budget

Bydl JENNIFER LANG.
‘WHEN TERRACE’S long-
-aWalted. replacement ju-
nior high finally opens its
doors Tuesday, there will
be a lot of students looking
up. Waay up.

The first thing that will
strike them is the light.
Soft, natural light floating
down from skylights loca-
ted high in the ceiling
above.

_As,jthey explore, , the ;

wide. corridors, -<check out.

their lockers (as promised,
too small.to stuff hapless
Grade 8s into), or take a
seat inside.their homeroom
classroom, theyll come.to
a remarkable conclusion,

Practically . the only
thing this Skeena Junior
Secondary shares in com-
mon. with its 50-year-old
predecessor is its name.

“You come in and look
up, and you see the sky,”
superintendent of schools
Randy Smallbrugge said.
“It's great, It’s a beautiful
school.”

The notoriously dark
and cramped original, torn
down this stummer, was lo-
cated about where the new
school’s 130-spot parking
lot and drop off loop are
now.

“The kids are going to
enjoy it. It’s a great asset
to the community,” he
said.

-Inside, the building
so new, the unmistakable
scent of. latex paint hangs
in the air. Other last-min-
ute touches, like installing
flooring tiles, were still

- taking place last week, as

_crews worked to complete

the $11,8-million project,
which started 18 months
ago.

Plastic packaging ma-
terial still covered the
clocks hanging in class-
rooms, where mountains of
moving boxes waited to
be unpacked.

Students arriving on
Tuesday will have several
,, big adjustments: to, make
a
around a new school or
memorizing their new

locker combination,

They’ll have to break in
a new principal and vice
principal, get used to a
four-day week - and the
semester system, noted
Dave Bartley, who was
named principal of Skeena
over the summer.

“There are some big
changes,” he said, adding
he’s confident the new
building signals a positive
new direction for Skeena.

Bartley says the
school’s multipurpose
room, located next to the
gym and school canteen,
will play a key role in
bringing the school toge-
ther.

Students will be able to
eat their lunches on fold-
ing tables. A large glass
wall permits easy viewing
of any gym activities.

“I think it’s going to be
important for school
culture,” Bartley said.
“Kids like to be together.
They didn’t have that in
the old schaal.”

besides finding their way:

\/
%¢

_Story and photos by Jennifer Lang ~

“He also pointed to the
light-filled halls and invit-
ing classrooms.

“[ think the brightness
is going to have a remark-
able impact on our stu-
dents and staff.”

There are some note-
worthy extras that will go
a long way toward making
the building feel like
home.

There’s one display

_Gase for every two class-
rooms,
‘showcase their latest’ pro-

so ‘students: can

jects.

“There’s lighting and
everything for every dis-
play case — it’s really
super,” vice principal
Dave Crawley smiled as
he toured the school last
week.

An open house is plan-
ned so members of the
public can tour the new
school.

It has fewer regular
classrooms than the origi-
nal Skeena did because
it’s built for less students -
650.

Each regular classroom
has two black boards, two
white boards, a bank of
bookshelves, a storage ca-
binet for the teacher, and
will have a TV and VCR
mounted on the wall.

There’s also a tele-
phone in each classroom,
a safety measure that’s
now standard,

With features like a 58-
seal drama theatre with a
screening booth ard chan-
ging rooms, separate
wrestling and weight

rooms, and a dance room
with springy hardwood
floors, Skeena is bound to
be the envy of the rest of
the district. The acousti-
cally-designed band room
has plenty of rehearsal
space.

There are also two sci-
ence. labs, a sewing room,
a culinary arts lab, a spa-
cious art room, meta! work
shop and woodworking
shop, in addition to prep

' roomis for teachers. , ;
school has two
computer labs; one lab is_

The

equipped with 30 new
cranberry-coloured iMacs.

The whole community
can take pride in the new
school, says principal
Bartley, who says it's
opening Tuesday close to

capacity, with 620 student

registrations as of last
week, and more on their
way.

School district officials
are confident the project

will meet its Aug. 30 com-

pletion date.

The school was still a
construction site last week
under the possession of the
general contractor, Swag-
ger Construction. Letters of
commissioning from en-
gineers and final inspec-
tions by the fire depart-
ment and the city still had
to be secured.

A building inspection is
expected today.

The $11.8 million price-
tag covered everything
from site preparation, de-
molishing the old school,
which was located on the

THE VIEW of the school library from the upstairs ‘teacher's lounge. Boxes filled with items from the first
Skeena Junior, demolished this summer, await unpacking.

same property, to building -
the new junior high...
“We're actually bang:
on budget -— and bang on
time if they finish next
Friday,” project architect

Tim Evans said, adding

the contractor will hand
over the keys to the school
district this Friday.

Evans said the school
will be a showcase for
other school districts in the
region, but it’s not comm-

pletely unique.

His firm Grant Sinclair
works on three to four
schools each year in B.C,
— all built with a “similar
funkiness”, he said.

Skeena's teachers had a
lot of input into the design,
offering ‘specific sugges-
tions on what features they
wanted included in the
building plans.

“I fed off their initial
requests,” he said.

DAVE CRAWLEY, Skeena's new vice principal, in-
side the new drama room, a 58-seat theatre with a
projection booth and change rooms.

THE SCHOOL has a full range of athletic facilities, including this dance studio
on the main floor. There's also a weight roorn, a wrestling room, and gym.

ROWS OF brand-new desks line up in the corner of a reguiar classroom. Each
classroom is equipped with two black boards, two white boards, a book case
and large cabinet for the teacher. TVs and VCRs will be mounted on the walls.