Community members around Floyd County gathered at the new Coosa High School this week with joyous celebration. ‘This school is without a doubt the most beautiful school I have ever seen,’ said Coosa resident Peggy Smith. The new building features windows in every classroom, wider hallways and a three-story staircase. Tuesday’s ribbon cutting has not only students at the school, but it’s teachers, excited because after they return from winter break on January 5th they will be in their new state of the art classrooms.
This makes the third Coosa High school, with others opening in 1931, 1948 and the current school in 1970.
Principal Trevor Hubbard spoke on the once famed painting of the phoenix in the front entrance of the school. Hubbard said, ‘Like most kids, when I attended school here from ’83 to ’86, I didn’t think about it much,… But when I started looking into it, I found that the first Coosa school burned down in 1929, was rebuilt and burned down again in 1945. We really did rise from the ashes.”
Several students that spoke with CVN said that they are most excited about the windows in the classrooms. ‘It will be nice to not feel like we are in a box when sitting in class’, one Junior class member said. He added, ‘not having the folding walls will also be great. It’s gonna be awesome to not hear other teachers and students in other classes. I think it will help us stay focused.’
The current school will soon be demolished. The old gymnasium will be brought down starting this week, with the academic building in December and early January. That site will be the home of a new gym, fine arts building and parking lot.
Another addition to the school is a commemorative brick walkway coordinated by school alumni. The brick was part of the former building and features the names of alumni, and teachers, students. The CHS Alumni Brick Committee also placed a brick in the walkway to honor each principal who has served Coosa High.
The new Coosa High was the marquee project of the education $32 million SPLOST approved by voters in 2013. The new school is a three-story building with the latest in technology for instruction. The building will provide updated facilities for its first graduating class, as it welcomes the class of 2016, and provide room for growth of future classes on their destination to graduation.