“It’s going to be a big year in here.”
Jonathan Thornton, a teacher at the Jasper Junior/Senior High School, stood in the lobby of the brand new joint school facility, with a huge smile on his face.
Concrete steps spread before him, leading to a brightly lit second floor that looked warm and friendly under the spacious ceiling of exposed wood beams. A few feet away, a wall of plants reached to the ceiling; a little further down, the floor of the new gymnasium gleamed.
The “living wall” of tropical plants and the enormous new gymnasium are just two features of the new building, which is the new home of both the Jasper Junior/Senior High School and École Desrochers.
Thornton said when he first stepped inside the new building he was “overwhelmed.” He remembered walking through the halls to familiarize himself with everything, and marveling at how foreign it all was.
“Even just something as simple as being lost in a building that I’m going to spend every day of the year in, you know, that’s a weird feeling.”
Students got their first look at the new building Sept. 2, when classes began for the year, but in the weeks leading up to the big day teachers and staff were hard at work setting up.
On Aug. 29, a few of them were in the lobby, arranging comfy-looking furniture.Workers busied themselves in many of the rooms, and boxes sat unpacked in the library, but Jasper Junior/Senior High School Principal Mark Crozier walked briskly through the halls, excitedly pointing out new features of the building.
Aside from the living wall and spacious new workout room, he said one of the most exciting aspects of the new building is the band room, which can open up to both the gym and lobby (where the stairs have been specially designed to double as seating), giving Thornton, the band teacher, the ability to put on performances in two unique ways.
Crozier pointed out the new gym, which is so big it can be divided into three sections, so multiple classes can be held at once.
“This is exciting really. A small school like ours, we have 214 kids or something enrolled for next year ... this is more like the size of a gym you would have in Edmonton, where the sizes are huge.”
Assistant Principal Fred Kreiner agreed, saying that the new gym will mean classes will no longer need to be interrupted when the school hosts events like volleyball tournaments, because the extra space will allow both boys and girls to play at the same time.
Crozier also pointed out that the new foods room, machine shop and multi-purpose room—as well as the gym—will all be shared spaces with École Desrochers.
For the French school, which occupies half of the building, the new space is probably even more exciting. For years it had been offering classes out of a relatively small space in the Jasper Legion. The school had no gym of its own, and had to hold classes in portable units across the street.
Hélène Gendron, the school’s principal, said “to be in the new space is to finally have roots.”
She said École Desrochers grew up a lot in its space in the Legion, and the new facility is an opportunity to take the next step in its growth.
But the building offers both schools a whole new world of exciting possibilities, including the opportunity to share high school classes, which they will begin doing this year.
“It means a lot more opportunities not just for us, but for all the students in Jasper. If we share courses and we compliment each other, the students have more choices in the end,” Gendron said.
The full impact of the shared space for both schools is hard to imagine in the infancy of the new school year, especially since the building isn’t totally complete yet—the fancy new band room currently has no walls—but if the electric excitement of school staff is any indication, that impact should be huge.
“It’s a great building, and it’s a wonderful facility, and I’m sure it’s going to serve us well,” Gendron said.
Curious Jasperites itching to get a look inside the new building will get the chance Sept. 10, when it will be open from 6:30-7:30 p.m. for a community open house.
Trevor Nichols
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