Whitefish celebrates new high school

In 2009, the Whitefish School Board set a goal to be in a new high school within four years. The goal followed on the heels of two failed bond requests to renovate the high school in 2003 and 2008.

Although it took more time to achieve the goal, on Thursday it was mission accomplished.

In the new high school gym, Whitefish High School Superintendent Kate Orozco welcomed an audience to the dedication of the new high school, which cost $23 million to build. The process began in 2012 with passage of a $14 million bond request.

“After five years of hard work, and design and discussion, and debate and dreaming we are standing here now thanks to all of you and many others,” Orozco said. “We are standing in a beautiful state-of-the-art school that is truly worthy of the promise of our kids.”

To commemorate the occasion, Montana Governor Steve Bullock gave some remarks, beginning with his ties to Whitefish — the town where his wife was born and where her father had been a teacher at the high school.

Bullock spoke to the importance not only of the teachers inside the building to education, but the building itself.

“Our children cannot learn as effectively if they don’t have an effective place to learn,” Bullock said. “You have a wonderfully effective place to learn. As students prepare for jobs of the future they now have a building that will also keep pace.”

City of Whitefish Mayor John Muhlfeld also spoke about the city’s involvement in supporting the high school construction project, by allocating $2.5 million from the city’s tax increment finance district to move the project forward in 2012.

“When the TIF district was originally set up in 1987 the city agreed to support the school district,” Muhlfeld said. “As a community we did this because we recognized then and we recognize now the importance education plays in supporting and growing our economy in Whitefish.”

Whitefish High School Principal Kerry Drown described the progress of the construction project as going “from idea, to paper, to dirt, to concrete, studs and steel to the incredible building called Whitefish High School.”

Drown used the moment to recognize and applaud the work of numerous supporters, donors, school board members and employees.

“On behalf of our faculty, staff and student body, I’m here to express gratitude and thanks to the many, many people who are part of the Whitefish High School building project,” Drown said.

Project manager Dow Powell and contractor Loren Cantrell of Langlas and Associates were among the people thanked.

Cantrell recalled his early involvement in the project.

“I heard several times from those already involved with the project, ‘Are you sure you know what you’re getting into? Building in Whitefish is different,’” Cantrell said, his comment met with chuckles from the audience. “Each time I heard that I smiled politely and thought, ‘We’ve built a lot of schools around Montana and in small communities, how different can it really be?’”

Cantrell said in the months following he came to appreciate — in a positive way — just how different it was.

“Never before had I been involved in a project where the city stepped forward as they have. Where private organizations such as the Iron Horse Foundation and private donors stepped forward and said, ‘We want to make this school even better then it already is.’”

On Thursday afternoon, outside the high school’s main entrance, student body president and high school senior Keaton Grove cut through the green ribbon, officially marking the opening of the new school.

“On behalf of all the students at Whitefish High School, I just want to thank the community because they’ve done so much for us,” Grove said. “I would also like to welcome you to the new Whitefish High School.”

Grove later said construction has not only transformed the look of the building but also the way students learn, noting the move to block scheduling this year.

“The new school has totally remodeled the way we’ve learned and the teachers have taught us. We have a new schedule and there’s more communication and collaboration then there ever has been before, and I think there’s more substance to what we’re being taught,” Grove said.

As visitors filed into the school to tour the building and celebrate the milestone, visitor Joan Vetter Ehrenberg gave Orozco a big hug. Vetter Ehrenberg has been a supporter of the high school construction project from the start. She served as co-chair of the “Vote Yes! Whitefish High School Bond,” campaign along with community leader Bob DePratu, who died in January 2014.

“We went through so many hurdles, and so many challenges, and so many tests,” Vetter Ehrenberg said. “This was a nonpartisan, community-wide effort. It was the greatest experience of my life.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.