The parents and students of McKinley Thatcher elementary school in Denver recently joined employees of GH Phipps for a ribbon cutting event to celebrate the opening of a new addition to their school. The school, which is part of Denver Public Schools, is located at 1230 South Grant Street and now has six new class rooms, including a technology lab and art studio, a brand new gymnasium floor and outdoor learning spaces. Cuningham Group is the architect for the project.
One 5th grade student described he new art studio by saying, “It has a garage door that leads to an outdoor space and we make projects to put out there to decorate it. It has an impact on my creativity and learning because we have a much bigger room than last year so we have more storage, which means we have a lot more supplies available to us for our art.”
“We’ve been honored to have an outstanding relationship with the Denver Public Schools throughout the years and we take tremendous pleasure in seeing the excitement and anticipation in the kids’ faces,” said Reid Tankersley of GH Phipps, project manager for the addition.
Those in attendance included Denver Public Schools Deputy Superintendent of Operations Mark Ferrandino, who welcomed the students and families and described the excitement of being able to bring schools in the Denver community into the 21st century and provide students with better learning opportunities. He was joined by school Principal Sonia Geerdes who encouraged the students to cheer loudly and “wake up the neighborhood” as one of their classmates cut the ribbon to officially open the school for learning.
