Community signs beam to be placed in new school

As construction on Oberlin’s new elementary school continues, Oberlin City Schools staff, students, alumni and community members have signed a steel beam that will go inside the new building.

“The beam will be displayed in our new media center,” said David Hall, superintendent of Oberlin City Schools.

Crews will place the beam in the new building next to Oberlin High School at 281 N. Pleasant St.

“This is an opportunity for our community to write something that will be held in the building for 80 to 90 years or so,” Hall said.

Construction is going as planned, he said.

“Everything is going very well,” Hall said. “We are on time and on budget, so everything is moving along with it.”

Oberlin High School Principal Chris Frank said the beam is a way for people to connect with the building project.

“It’s a connection, and when I sign this, I will always be connected to that building,” Frank said. “It’s like a heartbeat on the inside of a body; it’s the names and the people that are connected to it.

“They will be connected to the inside of the building forever. It’s for anyone that feels they’re lifers with Oberlin City Schools.”

The idea to sign the steel beam stemmed from a conversation Hall had with Greenspace Construction.

“After discussing our options with Greenspace Construction, it was brought to my attention that other schools have had community members, alumni and even retired employees leave behind a positive message on a steel beam,” he said. “It’s almost like a time capsule of positivity.”

Hall said the beam leaves a legacy.

“It’s important to leave behind a legacy for our future generations,” he said. “And with the way 2020 has affected all of us, it is equally important that we remain positive.

“That’s why we are creating this time capsule of positivity.”

Oberlin City Schools is in the process of being consolidated into a single campus on Pleasant Street where Oberlin High School currently is located.

The next phase of construction is a new building for grades 6 to 12, which will adjoin the new, currently unnamed, elementary school.

Construction of the new elementary school is one of several in Lorain County that has been or will be constructed by Greenspace Construction.

ZACHARY SRNIS — THE MORNING JOURNAL Jim Eibel, principal of Prospect Elementary School, left, David Hall, Oberlin City Schools’ superintendent, and Meisha Baker, principal of Prospect Elementary School, sign the beam that will be placed in the new Oberlin elementary school.