Gila Ridge High School nearly complete

After years of planning, waiting and design - and almost a year and a half of actual construction - Gila Ridge High School is ready to open.

Principal Jamie Sheldahl has watched over the construction process since ground broke in March 2006. He said the experience has been a "learning curve" but, as it nears the end, he's immensely proud of the finished product.

"You're never fully satisfied with anything," Sheldahl said. "You walk around and say, 'I wish that door would have been over there,' or something like that. But I don't think I could have had better people come to work for me. With me, I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful campus."

The final furniture deliveries were made this week, and staff is in the process of unpacking thousands of textbooks. The computer, lighting and most of the water system is running. The school's 55 staff positions are almost all filled.

Sheldahl said they hired all but one teacher, a math position, and that job is in the final stages of hiring interviews.

The finishing touches are still being put on the fine arts classrooms and the auxiliary gym, but Sheldahl said they should be done when the first 850 students start school Aug. 14.

The first students will start registering for classes Wednesday.

Gila Ridge will be Yuma Union High School District's sixth school. It cost almost $45 million to build, funded by the $70 million YUHSD bond passed by voters in 2005.

It was built to support the students in the Foothills region and eastern parts of the city of Yuma.

The school is designed for roughly 1,800 students. District officials hope it will ease overcrowding, particularly at Yuma High, which had approximately 3,200 students in the 2006-07 school year. It was built to support 2,300.

Gila Ridge will open with only freshman and sophomore classes drawn primarily from what was the Yuma High School attendance area, though some will come from Kofa High School's former boundaries as well.

Its first graduating class will be in 2010.

The only pieces of the school that aren't finished yet are the performing arts center and the main gymnasium. Those projects take more advanced construction work and are slated for completion in November.

SCHOOL FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

YUHSD Superintendent Toni Badone said she wanted the school to serve as a model for future district facilities. It is built with a community learning structure in mind, where teachers collaborate in shared preparation areas rather than just closing their doors.

"It's really been designed around how to personalize learning for students. So that's a concept that I think all schools will be built around. I'm just in awe," she said.

The counselors will meet with every student to create a six-year school plan for them, said Cathy Johnston, head of the counseling department. Counselors at other high schools routinely meet with students to work out four-year plans, but Johnston said they wanted to extend that beyond a student's high school years.

"That might be college, that might be vocational schools ... We're going to prepare the students for four years and beyond," Johnston said.

The school is equipped with a full line of vocational classes, including fashion design, child development, agriculture, construction, drafting and media.

The athletic and arts facilities are some of the school's most top-of-the-line features.

Fields for football, baseball, track and soccer are designated on the grounds, and the campus includes a competition and auxiliary gym that will be used for practices and physical education.

Arizona Western College will share the football field, named Veterans Memorial Stadium. The team logo for the Gila Ridge Hawks sits beside that of the AWC Matadors on the scoreboard.

"We will have every sport that the rest of the schools have and we will be part of the Gila Valley region," Sheldahl said. "We will only go varsity the first year in individual sports like golf, cross-country ... The teams sports will have JV (junior varsity) and freshman."

The full-fly performing arts center - which will have full space for hanging sets - is capable of seating about 1,300 people. Sheldahl said student productions would have first priority, but it could also house local productions and touring arts events.

"We really hope it's going to be kind of the center of the community, as far as performing arts," Sheldahl said.

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GILA RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL

Location: East 24th Street east of Araby Road

Size: 290,000 square feet of building space, including the gymnasiums and auditoriums, on 80 acres of land

Classrooms: Six classroom buildings, including facilities for welding and agriculture education, a main gym and an auxiliary gym, dining facilities and a 1,300-seat-capacity performing arts center.

Athletics: The grounds include Arizona Interscholastic Association-certified baseball, softball and soccer fields and a football field with a track. Arizona Western College is partnering with the high school for use of the new football field.

Capacity: 1,800 students. It will open with only freshmen and sophomores, or more than 850 students, its first year. There is land to add another classroom building, which would bring the capacity up to 2,400 if necessary.

School colors: Tar Heel blue, black and silver

Mascot: Hawks

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Sarah Reynolds can be reached at sreynolds@yumasun.com or 539-6847.