It’s easy for Alta View Principal Karen Medlin to choose her favorite feature of her brand new school. “The light,” she says with a smile and a twinkle in her eye. “It’s beautiful.”
From the front office, which is lined with floor-to-ceiling windows that frame a view of the mountains, to the hallways upstairs that have injections of sun from open stairwells and courtyards, the school is a beacon of light on the inside and out. Large windows grace classrooms, sitting areas, the entire east wall of the media center, and the faculty lounge.
Students, on the other hand, might point to different features when they begin school on Wednesday, Aug. 23 such as the air conditioning, or the reading nook with stadiu
m seating and a big flatscreen television in the school library.
There were smiles and cheers as hundreds of students, teachers and parents walked through the 700-student capacity building at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, Aug. 17. The school is the 12th in Canyons District to be rebuilt or renovated as part of a $250 million bond approved by voters in 2010. Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan; members of the White City Community Council; Canyons Board of Education President Sherril Taylor and members Mont Millerberg and Steve Wrigley; and members of Canyons’ administration attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“I am so excited about opening a new school in my old neighborhood,” Wrigley told the crowd gathered to celebrate the new school. “My hope is that this new facility will help to improve the educational opportunities of the children in the White City area.”
Fittingly, several of the rooms are named after flowers as a nod to White City’s heritage. The new building replaces the older Alta View building, which was built in 1963 on another corner of the lot. Students attended school in the older building while the new building was built where the soccer field used to be.
Architects Naylor Wentworth and Lund worked with school leaders to meet the specific needs of the students and school community while Hogan and Associates General Construction worked to bring their vision to reality. As the school moved from one corner of the lot to another, it gained a new address: 917 E. Larkspur Dr. The new address was hand-picked by Medlin in homage to the date the building officially opened. “We’ll always remember this day,” she said.
