Curtain rises today on new Metea Valley High School
In a moment at least 442 days in the making, Metea Valley High School will open its doors for the first time this morning to roughly 1,300 freshmen and sophomores.
And for an instant, but just an instant, Indian Prairie Unit District 204 administrators will stop to catch their breath and marvel at the new $124 million facility on 87 acres at 1801 N. Eola Road in Aurora.
Then it will be time to get back to their real jobs: educating children.
"The process has been a whirlwind since the ground was cleared last year, but the progress we've made over the last few weeks, getting this school ready for our students, has made that whirlwind feel like a breeze," Principal Jim Schmid said during a recent tour of the 460,000-square-foot facility. "We're now ready to welcome students into their new high school and all of the excitement that comes with it, but we also know the building is only about three-quarters of the way there."
Metea joins Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley as the third high school in the district that covers portions of Naperville, Aurora, Plainfield and Bolingbrook. It will serve freshmen and sophomores this year and then add juniors in the fall of 2010 and seniors a year later.
Officials say the school is needed to ease overcrowding at its sister schools.
Not all of the building is finished, but classrooms for the school's first students are ready to go.
Students today also will find a completed football stadium and two practice fields, one baseball field and one softball field. One additional baseball and softball field will be added later, in addition to two soccer fields.
The 3,000-seat school, which has been described as having an "X-shape," is flanked on the west by the music and fine arts wing and on the east by the athletic wing's gymnasiums and pool. Two courtyards will separate the main facility from the wings.
Art teacher Karen Popovich said the courtyard outside the five-classroom art wing eventually will be a sculpture garden with student art. The other courtyard, separating the library media center and the cafeteria, is designed to allow students to eat outside.
The second floor features a greenhouse, computer labs and science classrooms.
Schmid said the spacious LMC, with its high glass walls that provide natural light, 30 computers and rolling shelving units is among his favorite aspects of the new school.
"This building is top-notch but that LMC is really going to be the hidden gem here," he said. "That's the place I hope students really learn how to use and take advantage of quickly."
Schmid said the two-story wing that will house juniors and seniors, as well as the pool, multipurpose gym, fine arts facility and the northern section of the main building are still on course to be complete by late January 2010. Construction on the second phase has begun and will continue while students are in class.
Schmid said areas of the building still under construction will be walled off and inaccessible to students, ensuring their safety and keeping noise to a minimum.
"Once we get to open that up and get settled in there, I think we'll be able to step back, take a longer breath and take this whole place in," he said. "It's always fun on your birthday when you open one gift and you know there's another one behind it still waiting to opened. That's how this will be."