By the end of December, the permanent Blandford School building that was first proposed in 1973 by
founder
, is expected to open.
The $2.3 million LEED-certified school is being built with mostly private funds.
Ground-breaking ceremonies were held Wednesday for the new school. The building will replace the 30-year-old portable buildings that have housed Blandford School for the last 20 years.
Before that, the
3143 Milo Ave., Grand Rapids, used two classrooms at nearby C.A. Frost Elementary School.
While the new 7,000-square-foot, two-classroom school with a large common area, kitchen, and other areas for teachers is small compared to other schools in the district - the project is very important to the district because it represents the first public school building for Grand Rapids Public Schools that is being built with private funds.
"This ground breaking is a game changer for Grand Rapids Public Schools," Grand Rapids School Board President Senita Lenear said at the event. "This is the first public school in the region that is privately funded."
The
has committed $1.5 million of the $2.3 million needed to construct the school. Wege Foundation executive director Ellen Satterlee said the foundation got behind the school and ultimately behind the fundraising effort to raise the rest of the money needed to build the school because of what the alumni of the school have done after they have graduated from high school. She said when they talked to those who have gone to the Blandford School who are now adults, it is apparent the school made a major difference in their lives.
Satterlee said that the collaboration between the nature center, school, neighborhood, alumni, volunteers, and many others made making the major donation a natural fit. "The foundation supports outdoor education and getting kids out-of-doors," she said. "We are always looking to support organizations that have been well-run, and when we look at this organization, they have been well run for so many years. I wish that we could make this type of program available to all of the students in the system."
The school serves 64 sixth-graders from across the district. Students apply to get into the program and entrance is based solely on test scores. The waiting list to get in is twice the number of students that are actually admitted, according to school officials.
"This is a 'capstone program' for our sixth-graders," Blandford School Principal Ryan Huppert said. "Students learn things here that they take with them and use the rest of their lives."
Dockeray said that when she first proposed building a school in 1973 for the nature center she helped found, she never dreamed that it would take this long to get a permanent building constructed. Having just celebrated her 85th birthday, she said she is glad she is still around to see the project finally come to fruition. "Who would have thought that it would take this long for this project to finally get built? The portable classrooms they are using were old when they were brought here 20 years ago."
She said the most exciting thing is a permanent school is finally being built. "Over the last 50 years I have seen many things, many good things, come and go, so to see that we are finally getting a school built here which will allow students for years to come to study outdoor education is exciting," she said.
School officials estimate that more than 2,000 students have gone through the school since its inception.
Progressive AE, of Grand Rapids, has designed the building. Architect Sara Vander Veen said the building has been designed to allow students and teachers to freely move from inside to outdoors as the lessons move from one direction to the other.
Vander Veen said another distinctive feature will be the large mural on one end of the common area. The mural will feature Dockeray.