Leigh Celebrates New High School with Open House!
By: Emily Loseke, a senior at Leigh High School
On Friday, April 16, Leigh Community Schools hosted an open house to showcase its new high school addition, a huge accomplishment and step forward for the community of Leigh. At that time, the Leigh Youth Advisory Committee also unveiled their mural, a timeless tribute to Leigh’s history that instills pride in both the community and school.
The celebratory open house was held from 4-6:30 p.m., in which students in the Leigh Youth Advisory Committee, YAC, gave tours to visitors. A small dedication of the new school and mural was held at 5 p.m., in which the school board and YAC thanked the community for their support. Burgers, chips, and drinks were provided through the evening, sponsored by Citizen’s State Bank, BVH Architects, Hausmann Construction, and First National Capital Markets. The Leigh Youth Advisory Committee provided cake.
Superintendent Stephanie Petersen noted there were approximately 400 people in attendance, including a large number of Leigh alumni, as the annual alumni basketball and volleyball tournaments were held in both the high school and elementary gym that weekend.
YAC Vice-President Cassidy Hoffman said, “Since we didn’t get to have an open house at the beginning of school, it was really neat to be able to have it now with the mural done and on alumni weekend. It was awesome seeing all the people from the community come look at the new school and check out the mural. The new school has been amazing this year, so it was great to finally be able to show it to the community with tours given by us in YAC.”
The new addition has many immediate benefits for students and teachers, and it’ll also benefit the community for generations to come.
School Board President Kamin Held said, “Upgraded accommodations incorporate state-of-the-art equipment, allowing teachers to expand their curriculum or for future curriculum growth in the STEM areas. Another nice benefit is having everybody in the same facility, which will generate more collaboration between elementary and high school teachers. Not only is the facility a beautiful addition to the community, it can serve as a catalyst to attract families and businesses to Leigh. The board intends to continue to implement ways we can share the facility with the public and hope everyone is proud of what WE accomplished as a community!”
In 2018, the community overwhelmingly approved the nearly $10 million bond issue for the new addition in the first try. In honor of this overwhelming support, the Youth Advisory Committee decided to create a mural at the school’s entrance.
YAC Advisor Justine Fischer said, “The Youth Advisory Committee knew we wanted the design to be timeless and inspirational. We wanted it to celebrate the past, present, and the future of the school and community and instill a sense of pride, nostalgia, and excitement for the future all at the same time. We believe we accomplished that! A lot of time and passion went into this project, so to see so many people at the open house reminiscing and taking it in, as well as students stopping to read it during the school day these past few weeks, has been just priceless for us. The students are very proud of it!”
YAC is a nonprofit youth group dedicated to promoting civic leadership and engagement that works closely with the Leigh Legacy Fund. It consists of 27 members who are sophomores, junior, and seniors who live in Leigh or attend Leigh High School.
Fischer said, “We began researching for this project last summer, and we scoured the Centennial books, the House of Yesteryear, old yearbooks, old Leigh World articles, and the history room at the library for pictures and information. Every caption, every title, every narrative was all written by us. There were many hours spent copying old Leigh World articles and yearbook photos! The YAC officers and other interested members then did several visioning sessions over Zoom with the BVH architects who designed the layout with the kids' input. The YAC kids raised 100% of the funds for the project, including many who graduated in the past two years prior.”
The new high school addition and the mural symbolize Leigh’s strength and promising future. None of this would’ve been possible without the community’s support, so the open house was a great way for everyone to celebrate the accomplishment together!