Fredericksburg's Newest Elementary School Set to Help Students 'Navigate' Their Futures
The city's third elementary school holds promise for better academic outcomes, and its namesake, Gladys West, is the type of role model children need as they learn to navigate the world.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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Some 600 elementary school students have a new role model to help guide their growth.
The city’s new elementary school is named for Gladys West, a Virginia native who was central to the development of the GPS technology that we depend upon every day to navigate and map our lives.
West is a person who will remind our students to “aim higher, work harder, and never give up on their dreams,” said Deputy Superintendent Matt Eberhardt in his opening remarks at today’s ribbon-cutting.
The school’s nickname is the Navigators, selected to celebrate West’s achievements.
Open, Brighter, Wider
The new elementary school is housed in the old Walker-Grant Middle School off Learning Lane, which has been renovated to handle the younger, smaller children who will start roaming its halls next week.
Superintendent Marci Catlett celebrated the day by noting that the new Gladys West Elementary School now gives the community “three properly sized and staffed elementary schools” that can be key to improving academic achievement. The project was also delivered “on-time and on-budget,” she said.
Inside, teachers were busily decorating their rooms for their new arrivals. Due to the construction, they’ve only recently been able to get inside and start working on their rooms.
Freshly painted walls, hallways made wider by the removal of lockers, state-of-the-art smart boards in rooms, and vibrant teacher imaginations are spinning up a world of color and imagination for incoming students.
One second grade teacher fresh out of college is decorating her room in ivy, another is working to find the right arrangement of desks and bringing colorful carpeting to the room.
Notable are the kindergarten rooms, which were formed out of what were the science labs in the old Walker-Grant Middle School. These rooms are spacious and offer little bodies and their naturally inquiring minds room to roam and explore.
For the school’s first principal, Courtney Wheeler, it all adds up to a space that will allow children to “chart their own path in curiosity, perseverance, and integrity.”
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