Wreckage of the old Ignacio High School is metamorphosing into a new state-of-the-art building costing more than $18 million.
School staff got a look at the progress on Nov. 7. Representatives of general contractor FCI led the tour.
Participants entered through the opening that used to be the school's front entrance. On the left was the shell of what used to be the lunch room and kitchen. It will become the school library and a computer lab. Just to the west of that is a new art room.
Also remaining is the IHS gym, which also is getting a makeover with new air circulation and LED lights.
A major section of the old school west of the gym and cafeteria was demolished. Now taking shape are the performing arts auditorium west of the art room, and the cafeteria and commons room that will be a main feature of the new school.
The cafeteria has a sloping roof of laminated beams. The north side of the cafeteria will be a glass wall looking out to a courtyard, another gathering place for students.
A big room for music classes and the new kitchen are west of the auditorium.
West of that, the tour went into the remaining section of the old building, the classroom wing. Windows face to the west. The hallway faces onto the courtyard. In the hallway roof are skylights, south-facing windows with angled north-sloping roofs like old industrial buildings used to have.
The hall leads to the rooms that were and will be used for science classes. Still visible at the end of the hall is part of a mural painted by student Mick Lorusso, who graduated in 2000.
Principal Melanie Taylor joked that aside from the science rooms, teachers "will be able to pick their room based on seniority and who buys me a car."
The tour moved past the north end of the old senior high to the new front entry hall, the administrative offices and a career center.
From there, the tour entered the hallway that used to be the new part of the old junior high. A big new wrestling room is on the right. A bulletin board in the hall still displays papers with student drawings from fall 2013.
There are big glass windows on both sides of the hall where the junior high office used to be. The old junior high gym has big windows in the upper part of the east side wall. Tour participants marvelled at how much bigger and brighter the space seemed to be.
The new school is slated to be ready to use in August 2015.
For now, high school students are attending classes at the old elementary school, apparently referred to by some students as the "ele-high," in downtown Ignacio.
The high school is the final construction project financed by the $50 million bond issue that district patrons approved by one vote in 2011.
