HOWARD, WI (WTAQ) – Bay View Middle School in Howard knocked down a wall on Thursday as they officially broke ground on much-anticipated renovations.
Students, administrators, and alumni took a sledgehammer to the wall at the Bay View Middle School gym as they begin to make way for a new era at the building. The gym will eventually be converted into a massive student commons area.
Steve Meyers has been the principal since the building converted from a high school to middle school at the turn of the millennia.
“Even then, the building needed some work. So it’s been 22 years and the community passed a huge referendum and we’re going to renovate the school into a modern facility,” Meyers said. “Teachers and kids have made the best of it every year, but now we’re actually taking it and turning it to a middle school meant for middle school kids, not high schoolers…It feels like we’re right at the pinnacle of something that we’re doing for the next 50 years, 60 years.”
The entire project will take about 2 1/2 to 3 years to complete.
“Summers are like day and night, going crazy. During the school year, different sections of the building will be closed off. Those classrooms will be held in different areas where classes aren’t going on,” Meyers said.
That means most students enrolled, especially 8th graders like Student Council President Ella Myers, won’t have the opportunity to learn in the new space. She didn’t seem too bothered by it – and was excited for the kids who will come in the future.
“I have two younger brothers, and they get to come up here when it’s all finished. So they’ve seen the school how it is, and they can’t wait to see it because they’ll have something new, something to look forward to, something that no other kids have gotten to experience yet,” Myers told WTAQ News. “It’s really cool. I got to see this school now and what it will be, even though it’s not quite done yet. I’m excited, and I can’t wait to see it…This has been our school throughout all of our school district years, and now it will become something else. That’s very, very cool.”
Some student were given a sledgehammer to take a chunk out of the wall, but Myers wasn’t one of them. But was she jealous of her peers?
“A little bit! I mean, it looks hard at first but after watching it, it looks kind of easy,” Myers laughed.
The renovations are part of a $98 million referendum, which was approved by voters last spring.
“I want them to know how appreciative we are as a school district. They really took a bold, strong move to invest that kind of money in their schools,” Principal Steve Meyers said.
You can follow the renovation and facility updates on the school’s website.