New Metea Valley High School opens without a hitch

Even as the sun rose Thursday morning on Metea Valley, officials were busy making last-minute adjustments to prepare for the arrival of the first students on opening day of the new high school.

This was, of course, a historic moment in Indian Prairie Unit District 204 and administrators at the $124 million facility knew it.

But once the roughly 1,300 freshmen and sophomores filed into the building on North Eola Road in Aurora it was pretty much business as usual - almost like any other first day of school.

What to say

Principal Jim Schmid is wrestling with what he will tell students during the morning welcome celebration in the school gym.

He was thinking about it when he woke to start the day and he was thinking about it on his drive in and now he's still thinking about it as the clock ticks toward the moment when Metea will finally swing open its doors.

"I don't know why I even tried to put things together when I'm just going to walk out there, forget it all and wing it anyway," he says.

Last-minute things

It's just before 6 a.m., an hour before students will begin arriving, and Schmid and assistant principals Joy Ross and Edsel Clark are the only ones stirring at Metea Valley. They're all dressed in some form of Mustang black and gold.

They already know their plans for an outdoor welcoming ceremony will have to be scrapped because of the rain and so they're scurrying to shift things into the gym.

Inconvenient? Yes. Time to panic? Hardly.

"We improvise, baby," Ross says. "It's what we do."

Waubonsian slip

As Schmid, Ross and Clark discuss how the gym will be set up for the ceremony, Schmid talks about the order of events and briefly slips up.

"We'll have the band here and they'll kick things off with the (Waubonsie) Warrior fight song," the former Waubonsie principal says. Clark corrects him and reminds Schmid he caught him saying "Waubonsie" earlier in the day.

"Once a warrior always a warrior," an embarrassed Schmid says. "You know I focused so much on not saying it that I guess I've slipped a few times."

Once the students arrive and the lights come up for real, that's all forgotten - Schmid clearly is in a Mustang state of mind.

What's cookin'

Just after 6:20 a.m. kitchen manager Angie Velasquez rallies her staff as they prepare the first meals of the school year.

"Look at all this great, new, clean equipment!" she says. "This is all very exciting and we're going to have a great year back here."

No loungin' here

English teacher Jessica Thomas, who most recently taught in Indianapolis, hangs her last few knickknacks in her private workstation in the teachers' lounge about 6:35 a.m. and prepares to start her year by making some copies. Others begin filing in to do the same.

"I've really been looking forward to the students and teachers getting in here and making Metea Valley what we want it to be," Thomas says. "A lot of people in this community have a put a lot of time and effort into getting us to this point, so it's time to make them proud."

Social Studies teacher Amanda Squires also is eager to start the day as she straightens her work station.

"There's energy here now," she says. "Just wait 'til the kids get here."

First Mustangs

Sophomores Jaeme Cruz, Molly Briesath and Alex Konkle walk to school together and are the first students to enter the building, just seconds before the first bus arrives at 6:52. The girls aren't trying to be the first ones in, but they seem happy they are.

"That's really cool," Molly says. "I'm excited to be here."

Locked out

Freshman Carrie Mueting finds her locker pretty quickly but opening it is another story.

"I can't get it open and I'm going to be late for homeroom on the first day," she says.

Missed you girl!

Freshmen Katie Mangum and Sara O'Dell find each other even before they find their lockers

"Oh my God. I haven't seen you in forever!" Katie shrieks. "Did you find your locker yet? Are we close? What's your homeroom?"

A little help

"Come here precious, you look like you need a little help," Ross tells freshman Brandon West. "Do you know where you're going?" Brandon doesn't, so Ross leads him across the building and introduces him to his homeroom.

So far, so good

Project manager Todd DePaul, who oversaw much of the construction of the 465,000-square-foot building, gives the school a thumbs-up around 7:30 a.m. and declares "everything's going great."

Lights! Curtain!

At 7:42 a.m. Schmid welcomes all 1,300 students to the auditorium and leads the "best band in the land," the Metea Valley Marching Band, and cheer team in the Mustang fight song.

"I hope this sets the excitement level because as you'll hear us say many times, we have an opportunity to do something really special and you are at the epicenter of that opportunity because you are the Mustangs," Schmid says. "I hope throughout the day you see and can feel exactly how excited we are to have you all here."

Keep it rolling

While fist-bumping, high-fiving and back-patting students flooding out of the assembly, Schmid turns to Clark, clearly pleased with the morning's events.

"We're rolling baby!" he says. "We're rolling!"

The aftermath

It's nearly 3 p.m., the school day is drawing to a close, and Schmid is both tired and pleased.

"Everything went as well as it could have so we're very fortunate and very proud," he says. "I'm very pleased that the schedule worked and teachers were in front of kids at the right time in the right place. But more importantly, the response of the students in the building was very special. They were respectful and grasped how special today was and I'm really thankful for that."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=315102">Parent groups have been planning Metea opening since last fall</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=314943">Curtain rises today on new Metea Valley High School</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=315115">Familiar face greets students at new middle school in Aurora</a></li> </ul> <h2>Video</h2> <ul class="video"> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=9&type=video&item=390 ">Metea Valley High School opens </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <p class="factboxheadblack">Metea Valley facts</p> <p class="News">Metea Valley High School opened at 6:50 a.m. Thursday - just 442 days after crews broke ground on the 465,000-square-foot facility at 1801 N. Eola Road, Aurora.</p> <p class="News">Some quick facts: </p> <p class="News">• Metea is Indian Prairie Unit District 204's third high school following Waubonsie Valley and Neuqua Valley. Officials say Metea is needed to ease overcrowding at its sister high schools in the 29,000-student district that covers portions of Naperville, Aurora, Plainfield and Bolingbrook. </p> <p class="News">• The school welcomed roughly 1,300 freshmen and sophomores Thursday. Juniors will be added next year and seniors the year after. The school's capacity: 3,000 students.</p> <p class="News">• Metea is built on an 87-acre site at 1801 N. Eola Road, Aurora. The projected cost for the building and land was set at $124,036,709 as of June 1.</p> <p class="News">• The school's nickname is the Mustangs; its colors are black and gold. </p>