There’s a particular newness that comes with back-to-school season — new teachers, new school supplies, new clothes.
But for students at Peter S. Ogden Elementary School, this year also comes with a new building. Ogden Elementary is the first in Vancouver Public Schools to be rebuilt using proceeds from the school district’s $458 million bond campaign. On Monday, the night before students are set to return to school, students and families got a chance to explore their new school.
“I want to go in it forever!” said 5-year-old Arabella Costa, standing with her dad, Austin Costa, in the school’s expansive central commons. And she wasn’t alone in her declarations of delight. Hundreds of visitors milled around the school, exploring classrooms, shared courtyards designed for students to work together, and a playground featuring natural touches of wood and stone.
Principal April Whipple said the school, the first in Vancouver to use this design, was built with the outdoors in mind. Classrooms in each grade level are anchored around large rooms built so multiple classrooms can work together just by opening their doors. Floor-to-ceiling windows bathe rooms with natural light, and a central courtyard features a working human sundial students can stand in to tell the time.
“We want to show that learning happens everywhere,” said Whipple, as she led a media tour of the new facility.
So far, design, engineering and construction at Ogden Elementary has cost an estimated $33.6 million. The school is home to about 550 students.
Construction projects are funded under the district’s bond, which voters approved in 2017. The district is rebuilding six other aging schools, including Martin Luther King Elementary School, where construction is underway. Students from that campus will study at the old Ogden Elementary building for this school year before returning to their neighborhood school in the 2020-2021 school year.
The building also features an art room, dance studio and small stage for student performances. A makerspace — a sort of futuristic art room becoming increasingly popular in education — is filled with tools, sewing machines and programmable robots. A display case on the exterior of that room will feature student projects.
Whipple said it’s a mark of the school’s focus on project-based learning, another trend in education where students perform a task in order to learn a set of academic skills. Last year, for example, a group of students had to design a tool to rescue an imagined kite stuck in a tree, bringing elements of math, engineering and a dash of art.
Todd Horenstein, the district’s assistant superintendent for facilities, said it’s an example of showing students what it means to be “future ready.”
“Students have the ability to create something, then share and present their project,” he said.
Students and their families lined up at the doors in the minutes before the school’s back-to-school night, their noses pressed to the window as though waiting for the latest release of a hot new toy or smartphone.
Maviela and Jesus Escobar sat with their 6-year-old son, Sammuel, as they filled out paperwork. Maviela Escobar said they live nearby and have been watching closely as the school was built before their eyes. It’s nerve-wracking, sending Sammuel to a bigger school, she said, but “he’s really excited.”
“Mommy, I’m going to go to a new school!” she recalled him telling her earlier this year.
Back in the common room, Austin Costa recalled his own experience in school to his daughter, Arabella, and family friends David Kastning and his son Wyatt. Wyatt, 7, will be starting second grade in the new school.
“I’m a little jealous,” Austin Costa said.
Wyatt’s assessment, meanwhile, was simple. When asked what he thought of the new school, Wyatt held two thumbs up.
