After 10 years, MCS to open new school building

On Aug. 11, 2004 Mount Carmel School will see a 10-year dream come to fruition. After more than a decade of planning, Mount Carmel School will proudly open the doors to its new middle school building.

School principal Todd Blahnik said he is excited to have the new middle school building opening for the 2004/2005 school year because “it will give the students a more comfortable learning environment.”

For well over a decade now (since 1989), the school has used buildings on the south side of campus that were built with the intention of being “temporary.”

“Over the years, both the grade school and the middle school students have used the temporary facilities, and though they have served their purpose well, this new middle school building will be well received by all of those students and faculty who have become accustomed to life in the temporary buildings,” Blahnik said.

Besides the simple fact that students will be moving from an almost 15-year-old temporary facility into a luxurious new building, students will be excited to find new air-conditioning units that keep the rooms at a continuously comfortable level and run quieter, creating a more conducive learning environment.

The new building is aesthetically different from the high school building on campus in that it is a two-story concrete building, with classrooms facing out into the Mount Carmel School courtyard. Students will find the new middle school building wired to the same intercom and paging system that will help promote better communication all through the campus facilities. Each classroom is also wired to the Internet and the school’s computer network.

Faculty will find it easy to access memos and daily bulletins on the computers right in their classrooms. Those who have been in concrete classrooms will know that echoing can be a problem, acoustic drop ceiling tiles in the new middle school building will help eliminate some of the echoing to provide students with a comfortable learning environment.

Fifth through eight grade students at Mount Carmel School, including several of the grade school elective teachers, have moved to the new building over the summer in order to prepare for the first student to be taught in the new facility.

According to MCS president, Margaret C. Dela Cruz, the most exciting part of this building project “has been coming to school each morning and seeing the daily progression of the building.”

Changes in the school calendar were made in the 2003/2004 school year to help accommodate the early phase of this building’s construction. The 2004/2005 school year calendar will be back to normal, however, and students, parents and faculty of the middle school should be eager to get back to classes on Aug. 11, 2004—the first day of classes and the official grand opening and dedication of the new Mount Carmel School Middle School Building.

The project actually began in school year 1992/1993, when Sr. Mary Angela Perez started the development of a master plan that would bring the facilities at Mount Carmel School into the new millennium with grace. The plan that included a new high school facility, new middle school facility, as well as a new gymnasium, have since undergone many changes, all to meet the ever-changing needs of the students and faculty in the Mount Carmel School community as well as the budget for the projects.

With budget concerns in mind, the Mount Carmel School board of directors, under the chairmanship of retired judge Edward Manibusan, along with Mount Carmel School president Dela Cruz, decided to self-construct the new middle school building. In doing so, the board created a special Building Committee, chaired by local businessman and parent, Rick Kautz.

According to Dela Cruz, “It is the Building Committee who really takes care of the construction details.”

Meeting on a regular basis, it has been the committee that has made decisions about products that need to be purchased and building project constraints, in addition to keeping the project on track with the timeline for completion.