Students sign off on school expansion
As a nearly 2-ton construction beam dangled and drifted over a Greeley school on Thursday afternoon, students watched, clapped and pointed, knowing a part of them was on the beam as it was placed at the top of a building in progress.
One student in the crowd called out to wish the beam a good trip on the construction crane from the ground outside S. Christa McAuliffe S.T.E.M. Academy to the peak of the 55,000-square-foot addition about 30 yards away.
The 2-foot-tall, 1,350-pound, dark gray beam was decorated with the signatures of current McAuliffe students who will be a part of “the legacy of the building forever,” in the words of principal Jeff Petersen. McAuliffe staffers and district leaders also signed the beam.
“It’s like taking a new step with the school,” said 12-year-old McAuliffe seventh-grader D.J. Daily, who was happy to add his name to the beam. “People are taking pictures and using those for memorabilia.”
McAuliffe and Greeley-Evans School District 6 leaders no doubt hope the renovated school is a good new step for generations of future students. School district voters in 2019 authorized a $395 million bond that’s behind the $22 million McAuliffe project, the construction of a new Greeley West High School and work at every other school in the district.
The McAuliffe addition and renovations are scheduled to be finished in December. On Thursday, school and district leaders hosted a short topping ceremony to note a major milestone in the construction process.
The topping of a building is a tradition in the construction industry, and it marks the point in the work when the last key component of the skeleton of the building is fitted, according to Nathaniel Phelps, an Evans resident and the McAuliffe project
manager for contractor Sampson Construction.
“It releases the construction activity to continue,” said Phelps, as he pointed to the beam visible from a school parking lot adjacent to Fourth Street. “This has more meaning because the beam is front and center on the building.”
The beam rose into the air with a small pine tree strapped to the top. The tree is a bit of a good luck charm in the industry, and another tradition. Phelps said it signifies no loss of life with the project and good fortune for the future of the building.
The significance of the ceremony wasn’t lost on at least three other McAuliffe students who signed their names on the beam.
Six-year-old first-grader Kaiah Trefethen said she appreciated the ceremony because there is going to be an upgrade at the
school, an enduring upgrade at that. She also signed her name to the beam. “I feel like it should be there forever,” Trefethen said.
Daily, who has attended McAuliffe since kindergarten, said he has an interest in engineering or construction as a career.
“Maybe in the future, I’ll extend this building,” he said.
Thirteen-year-old Genesis Trujillo, an eighth-grader, won’t be at McAuliffe next year. The girl remained proud to add her name to the beam three times because she was asked by different people to sign. She promised to visit after she moves on to high school in the fall.
Trujillo happily signed her name. Even though she’ll no longer be a McAuliffe student, she always will be a part of the school. “I’ve been here since kindergarten, and I think it’s cool I’ll be here longer,” she said.