Opening of Minerva Park Middle School tops Westerville Schools' work in 2023
This year is to mark a milestone in the Westerville City School District when Minerva Park Middle School, 5002 Farview Road, opens for the 2023-24 school year.
The new building, named after the village of Minerva Park, is made possible thanks to voter approval of Issue 8, a combined 1.95-mill bond and 5.9-mill operating levy, Nov. 5, 2019.
Assistant Superintendent of Operations Scott Dorne said one of the most important aspects about the project is all the natural light from the outside that will engage students from all angles of the building.
“It’s a two-level building, but from the street, you really only see the upper level because of the way the property grades as it moves to the east,” he said. “The lower level, you can only see from the back of the building.”
Dorne said Minerva Middle will open this fall with 700 students, but it’s designed for 800. There is to be about 80 staff members, with about 60 of those being teachers.
“It will be a really nice-sized building,” he said. “This summer is when we transition our middle schools with our realignment plan.”
He said the building features a gym where spectators can enter from the top of the bleachers.
“When we have an event, the community will feed down the bleachers,” Dorne said.
“It’s a pretty nice gym. We will be able to have two teams practicing at one time. One of the things you’ll see about this building is that it goes from (areas) that generate noise to things that generate less noise. Across from the gym are two music classrooms. Downstairs in the lower level, we have our art and engineering spaces.”
He said the school’s media center and dining spaces will be especially inviting.
Director of Facilities Jeff LeRose said there was a lot of civil unrest occurring when the design of the building was being considered.
“We were thinking in terms about how a building could be a unifier,” he said.
“If you see the footprint of this building, you can see an abstract version of the peace symbol. We also played on the Celtic knot. These are simple four-stroke symbols that represent peace and harmony. The Celtic knot has multiple meanings, one of them mind, body and spirit. So we’re looking at each leg to take on mental, physical and emotional legs that are in line with education.”
Looking from the front of the building, LeRose said, it’s designed to look like open arms, being welcoming.
In the back of the building, he said, there are larger components of glass – the media center, the café, the art rooms and engineering-room labs down below with a lot of glass.
“It’s kind of like a mini version of the oval at Ohio State but it will be a circle that will be a place where you can have classes, concerts, outdoor theater,” he said.
“The outside kind of mimics that circle that will be more clearly defined in the center of the courtyard. All views with the glass will look (onto) that unifying space.”
LeRose said the interior also attempts to create spaces that are special, like the new Minerva France Elementary.
Pepper Construction is the general contractor for the middle school, while the designer is Triad Architects.
Superintendent John Kellogg said the district will also focus on its Portrait of a Graduate and what that means.
“We’re in the process of bringing more awareness to our portrait to our teachers and helping them understand it and transitioning to how we’re making sure things are happening in the classrooms,” he said. “That’s a big piece.”
Components include social-emotional wellness, adaptability, collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problem solving.
He said the district would also revisit the thematic approach related to the magnet school program.
@ThisWeekMarla
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Opening of Minerva Park Middle School tops Westerville Schools' work in 2023
