HOISINGTON - Wednesday afternoon, Lincoln Elementary School first through fourth grade students made their mark on the history of their town. The students, outfitted in toy hard hats and vests came from the existing Lincoln school on foot and from Roosevelt Elementary by bus to the construction site where contractors had prepared the I-beam that would top the entrance of the new school. There, they waited in line for their turn to select a permanent marker and sign their name before workers attached it to a crane and lifted it into place.
Many students wore superhero costumes because, coincidentally, this week the elementary schools are celebrating Bully Free Week, and Wednesday was superhero day, Fourth Grade Teacher Shelly. Hanzlick explained. She worked with students last year to create a book and a public presentation by students to the public detailing the need for the new school.
Second Grade Teacher Megan Husted was there with her class from Roosevelt Elementary School. They will be part of the first third grade class to be enrolled at the new Lincoln building. Students were excited to visit and see the progress on the new school she said. That morning, she talked with students about what a beam is, and how it would be used in the construction of their new school.
“This is a neat experience for them,” she said. “We talked about how this is part of their history. A lot of other kids can’t say they got to watch their new school being built from scratch and then to have the opportunity to put their name and their stamp on something.”
Representatives of Nabholz Construction, the company contracted to build the school and complete several other security upgrades to other district schools in 2016, and USD 431 Superintendent Bill Lowry greeted students and teachers, who responded with cheers as they watched the signed beam lifted into place. While it will be soon be covered over, the students will always have the memory created this week.
Construction is on schedule, Lowry said. Much work on the exterior will occur over the next two months, with crews “chasing” each other around the building with the different layers including the walls, insulation and brickwork. If all continues to go as planned, work on the interior will begin in December. The school will be completed in Spring, 2017, and will be ready for students in time for enrollment in August.