Glenbard West High School officially kicks off $16.5 million project
Past and present teachers gathered at Glenbard West High School Thursday to officially launch a $16.5 million project they say will bring modern science classrooms to the 93-year-old Glen Ellyn campus.
Flanked by renderings of a three-story addition, science department Chairman Sean Byrne said chemistry and physics classrooms in the new wing will accommodate the "next generation of science students," teens who aren't satisfied with "passive, in your-seats" learning.
"There's no question that these buildings, these drawings are beautiful both inside and out, whether we're talking about the classrooms or the green roof or even the hallways," Byrne said. "But what's really exciting for me and for my fellow teachers here is the transformational learning that is going to happen within the walls of those classrooms."
Glenbard High School District 87 leaders held the ceremony, not to break ground - crews started that late last month - but to tout a project they say will relieve overcrowding and let students put lectures to use in new prep labs and the "green roof."
Trees have been cleared in what was the George Zahrobsky Botanical Garden, and part of the so-called Honeysuckle Hill has been excavated in preparation for the 28,000-square-foot, T-shaped addition, not directly attached to the school. A glass atrium that will lead into the green roof will connect the original, 1920s-era building to the new wing, expected to open in August 2016.
Solar panels, vegetables gardens and a rain water collection system are some of the ideas for using the roof for interactive lessons.
"This new building is about a lot more than just more space," Byrne said. "This new building is going to encourage all students to think like scientists. This new building will inspire the next generation of students and ask them to put their experiences into use through conversations, through presentations, through experiments."
The addition marks the first to the original building since 1963. Zahrobsky, who joined the science faculty two years earlier and became science department chairman until he retired in 1994, has criticized the district for building the addition through his namesake botanical garden. He fought to preserve the diverse woods from housing developers with the help of his students in the 1980s. Together, they used it as a mini arboretum.
But at the ceremony, Zahrobsky was nostalgic.
"To thy happy children of the future, those of the past send greetings," said Zahrobsky, quoting an inscription on a statue at his alma mater, the University of Illinois.
To alleviate overcrowding - more than 2,300 students attend the school, meant for roughly 1,900 - two more classrooms than what the science department has currently will be built in the addition. And next summer, in the main building, six old science labs will be renovated into eight general education classrooms.
The addition, the remodels and a new chiller plant - air conditioning the entire school for the first time - add up to the $16.5 million estimated budget.
The district will pay for the work in part through a $35 million tax-backed loan approved by voters in March 2014. Superintendent David Larson noted voters handily approved the plan, with roughly 60 percent in favor.
"We have a dedicated community who saw the wisdom of maintaining a key flagship building in the district in town and obviously an investment in science infrastructure," Larson said.