CLENDENIN, W.Va. — A brand new blacktopped driveway wound its way through steep cuts into a sandstone hillside off U.S. Route 119 at Clendenin.
At the end of a series of curves sat one of West Virginia’s most advanced elementary schools. Local and state dignitaries joined students, parents, and school staff to cut the ribbon on the new Clendenin Elementary School Thursday.
“It’s a little bit surreal at the moment because it felt like it was never coming,” laughed teacher Michelle Callen. “The fact that we’ve made it to the finish line is very exciting.”
Callen is a 15-year teaching veteran with service dating back to the old Clendenin Elementary School which was destroyed in the 2016 flood. She also served through the eight years of portable classrooms and followed every development along the way with high interest.
“We’d get hopeful and find out there had been a delay. Then we’d get hopeful and there would be another delay. We really began to wonder is it every really going to happen,” she added.
Thursday it happened. Under the silver letters on the front façade of a modern school building teachers, including Callen, held onto a set of large scissors and cut through a blue ribbon to begin a new chapter for students in the Elk River community.
Standing in her brightly lit STEM classroom, teacher Hillary Lancaster struggled to contain her emotions.
“It’s a little surreal,” she said as she choked back tears. “I was raised in Clendenin. I went to school and my mom taught at the original Clendenin Elementary. So, it’s just a really special day to be able to celebrate all the hard work our community has done to make this happen.”
Principal Angel Gurski echoed Lancaster’s emotions. She was one of the many in the region who was impacted by the high water. She took the job as principal four years ago while the school was in upheaval in portable classrooms.
“I am also a flood victim in my personal home. This is my community, so I was up for the challenge,” said Gurski.
Community members and a few children beamed as they looked into every window and every door down a long hallway. The school is all one level and sprawls over several acres on top of a mountain. It’s deliberately well away from the dangers of the Elk River and its tributaries ever again.
Four-year-old Ellis was fascinated by a fish bowl and terrarium in her pre-school classroom.
“I love Sponge Bob’s house,” the youngster explained as everybody took in the colorful surroundings.
It’s something new and shiny to Ellis, since she wasn’t born when the old school was destroyed by high water. But those who lived through the 2016 event had a far greater appreciation of just how much effort it took to complete the climb to the top of that steep sandstone grade in northern Kanawha County.