The first element of the new Lockwood High School that observers will see rise from the earth will be the walls of the auditorium. That will happen the third week in May, according to Joe Clark of Langlas Construction. Clark was among several of the building team and school administrators who met with Lockwood citizens in the Middle School commons on Tuesday evening to update the public on the progress of construction which was stated a month ago.
Pictured here is the CTE Building which will accommodate classes for the first Freshman class next year – eighth graders who will graduate this Friday. The wall on the right is part of the first section of the main high school building to be erected. Construction is progressing “smoothly” reported Nick Pancheau of Collaborative Design. As soon as classes end this week the number of workers on the construction site every day will increase to more than 80. The Administration Building will be razed in about a week. Temporary headquarters for administration will be in the Elementary Building near Head Start. (photo by Evelyn Pyburn)
“We are moving at light speed,” said Joe Clark of Langlas Construction, in reporting on their progress to a group of about 30 people. A three-day old picture is old in deed, in terms of how rapidly construction is moving. The pace of construction that is scheduled is “pretty monumental,” he said, “It is pretty incredible, and it’s exciting to be part of it.”
They have started the concrete walls of the CTE Building, the building that is going to serve the freshman class next fall. They will pour the gym floor on Tuesday or Wednesday, next week. The components for the CTE Building and the new maintenance building are on campus. The building erectors are scheduled to begin on April 15.
Final designs for the school building are coming together, and Nick Pancheau from Collaborative Design, who showed architectural renderings and a video of what the school will look like said they are largely patterning the design after the school built by Watford City, North Dakota, which a Lockwood group visited earlier last year.
One dynamic feature, among many, is that the commons area will be equipped with four large video screens that will serve a variety of purposes such as running several different news services, making school announcements or live streaming basketball games for the benefit of spectators purchasing food from the “Pride Grill” or overseeing children in the area.
Classrooms, too, are being equipped with large television screens in the middle of the front of the classrooms, flanked on both sides by white boards.
Superintendent Tobin Novasio reported on the results of their collaboration with a marketing firm that has helped in designing logos and choosing colors for the new high school. He said that because the opinions were evenly split regarding a front-facing lion’s head and a side view, they will use both. A website will soon be available where anyone can order whatever apparel they want and have it customized as they choose. They are getting Niki uniforms, said Novasio, because the company is offering them two uniforms for the price of one, which will save the school a “couple hundred thousand dollars.”
Mark Qualman, QuEst Services Corporation, reported on other renovations and improvements that are being made throughout the rest of the campus, which are associated with the new school and were included in the bond measure. Some of the projects will be done this summer and others next summer, he said. The purpose of the projects is so that “once the high school is up and running, it is one united campus and everything is running well together,” he said. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
