The Grace Hopper Center looks very different this year for a very big reason. Our new building is quickly becoming a school, rather than a mound of cement and galvanized steel. There are shiny, large windows that I can already picture the faces of students peeking out from, and a cool gray paint with a lavender undertone coating the entire exterior of the building. 

While we currently can’t see the bones and guts of the building, we can hear about them from one of our assistant principals, Mr. Mainor. According to him, nearly all of the framework is done. The entire exterior is ready for action, while the inside is another story. The construction team is now completely focused on the interior and all that comes with it. Cabling and conduits for electrical have been put in place, but are not connected to a power source like Dominion Energy yet. 

The interior is the most important focus at the moment; there are many components that go into it, including plumbing, layout, walls, tiling, electrical, and more. This isn’t an easy task, but the Whiting-Turner construction team has been doing amazing so far, so we can only expect the best.

Mr. Mainor also remarked, “The thing I like about this building is how unique its features are, an experience you could only find on a college campus. He noted a very interesting feature that our current juniors will be sad to miss out on. A “giant support beam” in the physics rooms to create a large-scale pendulum for students to observe and learn from. This is a groundbreaking feature that shows how interactive and outrageous our new school will be. 

That being said, our new school is right on track to be done when originally expected. I know I am very excited for this new environment. How about you?