THE CAROLINA STATES SUPPLEMENT
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PKY 1
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220 23 25
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85 74
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385
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1 74
95 20
26 25
501
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July 14 2010
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Vol. XXII • No. 14
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“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.” Your Carolina States Connection • Richard McKeon, Charlotte, NC 1-800-288-4234
Watauga’s New High School Combines Modern Convenience, ‘Green’Features By Eric Olson CEG CORRESPONDENT
The finishing touches are now being applied to the sparkling new Watauga High School, a project designed to replace a facility opened 45 years ago. Located on the eastern edge of Boone, N.C., the new school, with a price tag approaching $80 million, is nestled in a picturesque valley surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. Work began with the groundbreaking in September 2007 on 93 acres off U.S. Highway 421, just to the southeast of the boulevard’s intersection with N.C. 194. The location, known as the Perkinsville site, has enough room for several athletic fields and parking areas, besides the school itself. Approximately 1,364 students attended classes in the old school, located only a few miles away, during the just-completed 2009-2010 school year. The old Watauga High, opened in 1965, will be razed and the site used as a new recreation center for Watauga County residents. “The old school was pretty full and near its capacity,” said Marty Hemric, superintendent of the Watauga County School System. “Our population has actually been on a decline and is projected to be flat for the next decade, so building the new school was not due to overcrowding. It was more that the infrastructure and the technology of that facility had just reached the end of its useful life.” The new school can hold up to 1,600 students, a number that Hemric doesn’t anticipating hitting in the near future. However, should the total enrollment exceed that number, he said, the school’s design allows quite easily for additions. “We hope that it will be in use for 75-plus years and we think that that will occur due to the design’s adaptability and flexibil-
ity,” he said. The new facility, the only high school in this largely rural county, boasts 280,368 sq. ft. (26,047 sq m) of space on three levels. The main building has three wings that house the school’s more than 100 classrooms and other educational spaces. There is also a gymnasium that holds up to 1,400 people, as well as a smaller, auxiliary gym, a 709-seat auditorium (with a balcony) for the school’s various performing arts and a large commons area. Within the commons area is a spacious cafeteria that offers both conventional seating, as well as bistro-type seating, Hemric said. The cafeteria — indeed the whole school — offers wireless internet as all Watauga High students, Crew members working on the 30-ft. (9 m)-high for the first time, will be auditorium ceiling. equipped with laptops in the 2010-11 school year. “Within the classrooms, we will offer desks that are boomerangshaped in order to allow for multiple configurations so that students can work in a collaborative setting,” Hemric explained. He also is quite proud of the many “green” features of the new school, including using construction products that are non-toxic to students, teachers and the environment. “It is comforting having a facility where you know that all the products that went into the construction emit very low levels of oxidants,” he said. “From the wallboard to the paints to the lighting it is a safe environment that will not hinder students’ ability to stay alert and engaged. Research has consistently shown that these things improve academic performance.” Another unique feature of the school is the installation of two 60,000-gal. containers underneath the front entrance of the main building. These two tanks are designed to serve as catch basins