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ENLARGE
Students and Chipeta’s great-great-grandson Roland McCook, right, cut the ribbon on the first ever day of school at Chipeta Elementary Monday morning.
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GRAND JUNCTION — Naomi Dores “couldn’t wake up early enough” Monday to get to Chipeta Elementary School.
It was the 10-year-old’s — and the building’s — first day of school.
Dores’ mom, Lorraine, said she’s excited her daughter gets to begin fifth grade in a new building that’s bigger than her old school, Lincoln Park. Lincoln Park and Columbine students poured into the new two-story Chipeta building on the corner of 10th Street and Chipeta Avenue Monday.
Like many parents, Lorraine accompanied her daughter to school that morning for an opening ceremony in the school’s gym. Before the ceremony began, children squirmed with excitement for their first day. Teachers in black T-shirts guided lost students to a seat on the floor next to their new classmates. Parents caught a last glimpse of their sons and daughters before heading to work or a slightly quieter home.
Principal Patrick Buckley, a Central High graduate who’s last job was assistant principal at a school in Fort Campbell, Ky., welcomed students.
Dressed in Ute regalia, Roland McCook, the great-great-grandson of the school’s namesake, offered words of congratulations and a framed portrait of Chipeta. District 51 Superintendent Tim Mills talked about sharing the school’s big gym and cafeteria with the community for after hours events and said it made more sense to build a new school with money left over from a 2004 bond issue than to renovate the old schools Chipeta students attended. Lincoln Park has been leased to a charter school, Independence Academy. Columbine was torn down earlier this month.
Peeking through a back door to the gym, all could glimpse backhoes churning the soil west of the school throughout the ceremony. The land where Columbine Elementary stood until it was torn down weeks ago will become a parking lot by the end of next month. A playground should be done around the same time.
The first day at Chipeta brought mixed emotions to instructional assistant Kay Gehrett. She worked at Lincoln Park Elementary for 17 years. She’s “excited to start something new” with her kindergarten class at Chipeta.
“It’s very exciting to be starting a new adventure with the kids,” she said.
As the children maneuver new hallways and classrooms and learn to make new friends, they’ll also learn more about the environment, predicted Gehrett. The school is District 51’s first “green” school, meaning it’s energy efficient. More natural light, clean building materials and special heating and cooling techniques are part of the school, something Gehrett said she hopes will open up energy-related conversations with students.
Reach Emily Anderson at eanderson@gjfreepress.com.
It was the 10-year-old’s — and the building’s — first day of school.
Dores’ mom, Lorraine, said she’s excited her daughter gets to begin fifth grade in a new building that’s bigger than her old school, Lincoln Park. Lincoln Park and Columbine students poured into the new two-story Chipeta building on the corner of 10th Street and Chipeta Avenue Monday.
Like many parents, Lorraine accompanied her daughter to school that morning for an opening ceremony in the school’s gym. Before the ceremony began, children squirmed with excitement for their first day. Teachers in black T-shirts guided lost students to a seat on the floor next to their new classmates. Parents caught a last glimpse of their sons and daughters before heading to work or a slightly quieter home.
Principal Patrick Buckley, a Central High graduate who’s last job was assistant principal at a school in Fort Campbell, Ky., welcomed students.
Dressed in Ute regalia, Roland McCook, the great-great-grandson of the school’s namesake, offered words of congratulations and a framed portrait of Chipeta. District 51 Superintendent Tim Mills talked about sharing the school’s big gym and cafeteria with the community for after hours events and said it made more sense to build a new school with money left over from a 2004 bond issue than to renovate the old schools Chipeta students attended. Lincoln Park has been leased to a charter school, Independence Academy. Columbine was torn down earlier this month.
Peeking through a back door to the gym, all could glimpse backhoes churning the soil west of the school throughout the ceremony. The land where Columbine Elementary stood until it was torn down weeks ago will become a parking lot by the end of next month. A playground should be done around the same time.
The first day at Chipeta brought mixed emotions to instructional assistant Kay Gehrett. She worked at Lincoln Park Elementary for 17 years. She’s “excited to start something new” with her kindergarten class at Chipeta.
“It’s very exciting to be starting a new adventure with the kids,” she said.
As the children maneuver new hallways and classrooms and learn to make new friends, they’ll also learn more about the environment, predicted Gehrett. The school is District 51’s first “green” school, meaning it’s energy efficient. More natural light, clean building materials and special heating and cooling techniques are part of the school, something Gehrett said she hopes will open up energy-related conversations with students.
Reach Emily Anderson at eanderson@gjfreepress.com.
