New McWhirter Elementary: Igniting Dreams for Tomorrow
VLK Architects attended the Margaret S. McWhirter Elementary Schoolrededication ceremony Thursday, March 3. Students and teachers along with the Clear CreekISD Board of Trustees, City of Webster officials, Dr. Michael Marquez, Principal, and familymembers of the honored Margaret S.McWhirter, were all in attendance to celebrate the richhistory and new beginning for the school.
'Seeing the excitement on the faces of the students, faculty, and community was the ultimatereward for our team. It was especially wonderful to have the family of the namesake, Margaret S.McWhirter, in attendance to celebrate the on-going legacy of the school and we are proud to be apart of it,'said Melissa Fleming, VLK Architects Project Architect. 'From the design processthrough the opening of the school, VLK Architects has thoroughly enjoyed working with theadministration and community to make this project a huge success.'
In 2013, CCISD passed a bond referendum designating 30 million dollars towards replacing theoriginal facility which had become inefficient and dated with a new facility to address the needsof teachers and enhance learning for McWhirter students.
'Two years ago, we were in a building that had more than 70 exterior doors and ourkindergarteners walked a quarter of a mile to get to the nurses office. Now, we only have 20exterior doors and our smallest students are just around the corner from the front office,' said,Dr. Michael Marquez, Principal.'This building has nine unique collaborative spaces, and insteadof chalkboards and whiteboards, every classroom has floor to ceiling magnetic white walls thatstudents can write on and teachers can turn into smartboards with a flip of a switch.'
In addition to collaborative learning spaces in the new building, there were also new windowsand glass curtain walls added to spaces making the natural light not only a resource to beharvested, but a show stopper to the surrounding community.
'I happen to really like the light that pours in all through this building. For what it does forlearning and what it does to keep the school going. It's there just waiting to ignite dreams fortomorrow,' said Dr. Laura DuPont, CCISD Board of Trustees President. 'McWhirterElementary is truly the heart of itscommunity.'