Several local officials, students, teachers and community members gathered under a large tent in blistering heat at Germantown High School on Tuesday afternoon to witness a ribbon cutting for 24 new classrooms.
The additions come at a time of significant growth for Germantown high. The new classrooms replaced several outdoor trailers used in recent years to accommodate overflowing classrooms. Three of the trailers were dismantled that same morning.
The ribbon cutting comes two days before Germantown's first day of the 2024-2025 school year on Aug. 1.
JBHM Architecture and construction firm AnderCorp worked to create the additional classrooms.
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Currently, Germantown High School has 1,400 students in grades nine through 12.
Germantown High has seen plenty of progress in the past year. In September 2023, the school broke ground on a new performing arts center. The 24 new classrooms also broke ground that day. When giving remarks, Ryan Florriech, principal architect at JBHM, said construction had ramped up to six or seven days a week since school ended to finish the classrooms before the start of the fall semester.
The wing of new classrooms and performing arts center make up a $44 million project adding 96,000 square feet in total to Germantown high.
The performing arts center's anticipated completion is late 2024 or early 2025.
More on the performing arts center: Germantown High School breaks ground on new state-of-the-art performing arts center
Florriech also said the new classrooms were designed to flow easily into the existing architecture. The new space includes two floors and mainly houses freshman level classes.
Steve Taylor teaches freshman English and a SAT prep course at Germantown. Taylor, who previously taught in the outdoor trailers, said he is excited to teach indoors again. Now, his students won't have to walk outside to go the main building for bathroom breaks and when it rains, the students won't have to endure the weather when walking to their next class.
The new hallways include floor-to-ceiling windows with one side overlooking the school's baseball field.
Several subjects including math, English and Spanish have found new homes in the new wing. The addition also houses the school's art and yearbook room.
Laura Jones, junior and student government association secretary at Germantown, said she is happy to have the new classrooms because it means students and teachers won't have to hear construction all day anymore. The completed classrooms also means students will get to go in the school's existing courtyards, previously blocked by construction, before school and during lunch.
Several small details that are meaningful for teachers have been added as well. Vivian Ainsworth, a Spanish I teacher also moving out of the trailers, said she's happy about the new dimmable lights and upgraded desk in her classroom.
Madison County Schools Superintendent Ted Poore gave remarks before the ribbon cutting. Poore, who recently took over from Charlotte Seals , thanked the extensive team that made the new addition possible.
Community members, local officials, teachers and students — many dressed in Maverick red — gathered behind the ribbon in front of the new classrooms and officially opened the wing.
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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Germantown High School opens 24 new classrooms amid growing population
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