West Seattle was well-represented today as the new and improved Denny International Middle School officially opened today. Classes start tomorrow. Wearing blu and a big smile in the middle of the photo is Dr. Susan Enfield, Interim Superintendent Seattle Public Schools. On her left in blue suit is Denny Principal Jeff Clark. Man pictured far left is Chief Sealth High School Interim Principal Christopher Kinsey. To his left are Aurora Lora, Executive Director, West Seattle South Region of Seattle Public Schools. and Sharon Nelson, State Senator, 34th District.
At least 25 dignitaries cut a bright blue ribbon early this afternoon to officially open Denny International Middle School, located behind Chief Sealth High School, within the same building. You can read about Denny getting ready to open and building details here:
CLICK ON PHOTO FOR SLIDESHOW
To see a video of Janelle Maroney singing the national anthem at the event click here.
"This is an exciting time to start the year," Dr. Susan Enfield, Interim School District Superintendent, told the West Seattle Herald. "We have these great facilities that we are opening, thanks to our voters. I think there is a real sense of positive momentum as we begin the school year and so we just need to keep that going. The building is fabulous. All this natural light and these high ceilings are just wonderful. It's such a tribute to how much this community values the education of its children that they would support something like this being built, so I'm grateful."
Former Arbor Heights Principal Dr. Carol Coram is now Assistant Principal with Chanda Oatis at Denny, honored as Assistant Principal of the Year.
"It's been a transition for Denny," said Oatis (...) "It's going to be very exciting bringing in a new assistant principal.
"I feel very, very excited for the students to have something they can feel proud of," she said of the building. "They did so many amazing things to beautify our old building but now they have a building they can walk in as beautiful."
Robert Evans is the Senior Project Manager with the construction of the new Denny/Sealth project. He helped students raise the American and State flags at the ceremony.
"It looks wonderful, I mean, look at it," he enthused with pride. "This has been a real positive experience for myself and students and staff. We've been working on this for about four years. It has a lot of good features that are going to serve them well for many years."
"We understood that sharing the infrastructure between these two schools was going to be financially efficient," said West Seattle's Steve Sundquist, School Board President referring to the board. "More importantly we knew this was going to provide a great many learning opportunity for our kids."
Nadene Palta, is an 8th grader and Associated Student Body President of Denny. "I am very proud to be the Student ASB President and a student at Denny," she told the Herald. "The new school is so beautiful and I think everybody will enjoy it here."
