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Schools

Westminster Christian Academy Settling Into New Campus

Staff is preparing for students and the upcoming school year after moving to the new Town and Country campus over the weekend.

The campus of Westminster Christian Academy is now a beehive of activity with just a few weeks to go before school starts Aug. 22.

The school moved into its new campus over the weekend. Now, staff is scurrying to place finishing touches on the new school in Town and Country.

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Teams of landscapers have been planting trees and laying sod in the scorching summer sun, while inside workers are checking wiring, testing Internet connections and touching up paint. Construction dust still blankets the floor in the corridors as the administrative staff unpacks its boxes and sets up the school’s office. Teachers will unpack their classrooms during teacher work days beginning Aug. 15.

Brinkmann Constructors project manager Jason Marnin said the seventh to 12th grade school will be tidied up and ready to impress students and their families for orientation Aug. 8-10.

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“The final clean and odds and ends should be done by Friday,” Marnin said. “We’re going to be here until school starts and however long they need us."

School officials said the $70 million building is opening one year ahead of schedule. Several factors helped the school’s speedy construction. First was the decision to reuse portions of the old West County Technical building that previously occupied the site. Part of the old 80,000-square-foot building, including a gym and kitchen, were incorporated into the new 325,000-square-foot structure. 

“Through its creative approach, the Brinkmann team helped us maximize the value of every contribution from our generous donors,” said Zach Clark, director of advancement for Westminster Academy. The school was built using donated funds, not student tuition.

Another unlikely aid to the construction effort has been the down economy, which allowed the school to hire a huge skilled labor force. As many as 150 constructions workers were on the job site on any given day, a number that would have been impossible to hire if there were numerous building projects competing for the available labor pool.

The school will open its doors to more than 900 students officially on Aug. 22. The building boasts wide halls, sky lights and interior windows to give the school an open feeling. Meeting rooms and common areas will give students a place to work on projects together, and each grade will have its own “neighborhood” area to support a feeling of community.

The new campus is twice the size of Westminster Academy’s old school at 10900 Ladue Rd. in Creve Coeur, which it outgrew. The new school also has many things the old campus lacked, such as a a 615-seat theater, dedicated fine arts classrooms, top-notch science labs and a football stadium.

Westminster Academy will hold orientation throughout three days, with morning and evening sessions to accommodate working families. Eleventh and 12th grades will meet on Aug. 8, ninth and 10th grades on Aug. 9 and seventh and eighth grades on Aug. 10. Students will have a chance to locate their classrooms as well as sample food from the new Campus Cuisine program run by alumni Holly Cunningham, owner of Hollyberry Catering.

The school will host a public open house from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 20.

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