West Wilson Middle students, staff have 'emotional' first day at new school after 2020 tornado

It was the culmination of a four-year journey Friday as students and staff returned to West Wilson Middle School in Mt. Juliet for the first time since an EF-3 tornado destroyed the building in March 2020.

Despite a first day of school traffic jam that delayed the start of classes, it was an emotional day at the new building on North Mt. Juliet Road. The last four years had been a kind of tightrope act, with Wilson County Schools fitting West Wilson's students, families and staff into makeshifts spaces at other buildings whenever possible.

The last two West Wilson eighth-grade classes graduated without ever taking a physical class at the school. And teachers like Christy Hughes were forced to shuttle between buildings and use 13 different classrooms for work.

"This is closure for me," Hughes, a reading and math interventionist who is in her eighth year as a West Wilson Middle teacher, said while guiding students off the bus toward the school. "We get to finally shut this really horrific chapter of dealing with everything that the tornado brought us along with a lot of things that COVID brought us, and we get to close that and open another one and start over and be what we were supposed to be."

The new building for grades 6-8 definitely has a shine.

Light blue and yellowish gold adorn strikingly clean floors and walls.

"We have better facilities. We have better materials," eighth-grader Likith Ande said about day one at the new school. "Everyone... has a better attitude. It's positive because we have our own school; we're not competing with another school."

Josh Johnston is starting his second year as principal of West Wilson Middle. The last three years saw his students split between schools, with sixth- and seventh-graders at Mt. Juliet Middle School and eighth-graders at Mt. Juliet High School.

On Friday, he was able to greet all of his students in one location as they came off buses in the heat and then entered the new school's hallways.

Wilson County Schools had hoped to move into the new West Wilson Middle School building last spring, but the district ran into work and equipment delivery delays.

"To our credit, our teachers and kids have kept having school no matter where they were," Johnston said. "But as far as learning goes, the stable environment will help tremendously."

The 2020 tornado that took out West Wilson Middle also destroyed Stoner Creek Elementary, behind the building. Like West Wilson Middle, it, too, required a new building. Stoner Creek opened its new facility in 2022. Many West Wilson students attended Stoner Creek in 2020. The two schools were among more than 1,300 structures in Wilson County that recorded tornado damage. Three people were killed.

A wing of the original school that was spared in the storm has been upgraded.

And part of the middle of West Wilson Middle's new building was built as a storm shelter.

"On inclement weather days, you can see it in their faces," Johnston said. "It's increased comfort."

The new West Wilson Middle school is built for 1,500 students. Enrollment stood at 1,416 this week, though that number will fluctuate, Wilson County Schools Public Information Officer Bart Barker said.

Staffing for the new school is also full, Johnston said.

And as everyone got to their classes or got in those first looks, there was an unmistakable air of pride.

"It took a while to build," eighth-grader Cole Davis said. "But it was worth it."

Reach Andy Humbles at ahumbles@tennessean.com or 615-726-5939 and on X, formerly known as Twitter @ AndyHumbles.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: West Wilson Middle students, staff have 'emotional' first day at new school after 2020 tornado