New Cottonwood school makes big move

Photo by Photo by Paul Robeson

DESK ASSEMBLY LINE — West Valley High School seniors, left to right, Jessica Breshears, Matt Hewitt, Roy Bottom, Eric Herman and Danielle Linschoten took a vacation day to assemble desks at North Cottonwood School last week.

Twenty-eight seniors from West Valley High School took a day of their winter vacation to bring in and assemble furniture in the 26 classrooms at the new North Cottonwood School on Gas Point Road last Thursday.

The students looked like a professional moving crew which worked with meticulous precision as they took desks from cartons; inserted legs; adjusted fastening hardware with Allen wrenches; removed any packing material or manufacturing labels; up-righted the desks; lined them up in the classrooms; added chairs; and made their final inspection that the room furniture was complete.

“It saved the district thousands of dollars in labor costs to have these students volunteer their time, on a vacation day from school, to make this happen,” said Carl Stemmler, principal of West Valley High School.

District Superintendent Dale Hansen and Principal Stemmler explained how two rental trucks brought in boxes of furniture and supplies into the new school which is scheduled to open on Jan. 22 of next year. They said staff would be present on Jan. 8 to “set up” and prepare for the opening and an open house.

District bus driver Mark Lacy unloaded the containers of furniture, which were received by West Valley Vice Principal Don Ray. The cartons were then dollied to the three classroom buildings, each of which has nine classrooms. Students opened the cardboard boxes and took the contents to their designated rooms and began the assembly process.

In return for their work, the students receive community service hours for volunteering to help, not to mention the free lunch that was provided by the district. All of the work, and lunch, kept a smile on the majority of faces during their volunteer day.

“These are what students today are about,” said Stemmler, “not the one or two percent you usually hear about.”

Stemmler said he was happy that the students volunteered to help with the new school, one of the first built in the south county in the last 26 years. He also said that many of the volunteers had gone through the Cottonwood schools and this was another way of thanking their district and community.

Paul Robeson may be reached at Paul@Robeson.com.