Students, staff, and parents are on board with the modernization of Bonnyville Centralized High School, and construction is set to soon get underway.
“It’s been pretty positive. I think a lot of them had heard about some of the cool features that are going to be in the school once it’s finished, and they heard that students may be going to the C2 next year, so I don’t think there were any big surprises,” explained communications officer for Northern Lights Public Schools (NLPS) Nicole Garner.
First approved by the provincial government in March 2017, the hope is construction will start as soon as this summer.
The school division invited current and future students and their parents to information sessions about the modernization of the school and what they have to look forward to once it's all done.
“It was really about filling them in on the details and what the schedule is going to look like for next year,” noted Garner.
The design has been finalized and includes an NBA-sized gymnasium, an updated common area, a full-sized kitchen, and more natural light, among other upgrades.
According to Garner, the current building is over 50 years old, and is lacking in a few areas.
“The age of the facility, and because of the time it was built and when it was built, there were a lot of things that couldn’t be offered within the building footprint that we have right now. The gym was undersized and that limits some of the programming that you can do as far as tournaments, and there wasn’t a kitchen facility big enough to offer food studies courses,” detailed Garner.
She added, “It’s going to be as close to getting a brand new school as we can get."
Once the renovations are finished, the school's gym will be able to seat up to 200 people and could be split into two separate volleyball courts with plenty of space.
“They’re going to be upgrading all of the classrooms. What’s called the pit right now is going to be expanded into a learning commons and student gathering area,” detailed Garner. “There will be a fireplace at one end and two stories worth of windows on the south side. That whole area is going to open up really nice and big with an area where you can serve food."
After the school's kitchen is upgraded, it will be large enough for them to start offering a food studies program.
“Cosmetology is getting a bit of a remake. They’re in a classroom right now, but they will be moved to a different part of the school that’s closer to the stage, so when performances go on, they will be right there. It will look more like an actual salon too,” Garner outlined.
They've also decided to turn the school's current three separate mechanical rooms into one large space.
Student parking will be getting a revamp, and the entrance/exit will be moved from its current location in the north of the school, to the east side of the building.
Other updates will address "some things people aren't happy with right now."
"Like the fact that there’s not a lot of natural light, they weren't able to open up the windows, that won’t be the case in the new school. There’s going to be windows in all of the classrooms and you’re going to be able to open them," noted Garner.
The modernization is expected to take two years to complete.
In the meantime, students, staff, and teachers will be packing up their belongings and moving to the Bonnyville Centennial Centre.
This is opening up a world of possibilities for their students.
Garner said skating, pottery, the climbing wall, and other activities offered at the C2 will be available for the students to utilize during their stay.
“There’s just a bunch of cool things that we can do,” she exclaimed.
The overall cost of the reconstruction is covered by the Province of Alberta, however, their lease at the C2 won't be.
“Closer to when construction will start, our plan is to hold a community meeting, because we should have a firmer idea of what our timelines will be (at that time),” Garner said.
