Derby Middle School students stepped into local history Monday by walking across Nutmeg Avenue and through the doors of the new Derby Middle School.
Principal Sally Bonina cut the ribbon at 11:41 a.m., allowing the city’s eager group of seventh and eighth graders to get a first official look at their new digs (the sixth graders arrive in the fall).
The students and faculty went into the “cafetorium,” (cafeteria with a performing stage) where they listened to brief remarks from school and town officials.
“I’ve never been this excited in my entire life — and I had two babies!” Bonina said.
The principal’s joy was infectious, with several students letting out a prideful “Woo!” during Bonina’s remarks.
“We belong here. This is a place I was meant to be — and I’m meant to be here with you,” she told the students.
“You will always feel safe here. You will always feel love here, learning will always go on here,” she said.
Several officials reminded the students to be grateful to their parents and the other residents in Derby who voted to pay for the new middle school, which finally gets the younger students out of sharing a building with high school students.
Click here for more details on the new school.
“I ask you to appreciate it, enjoy it and to make the most of it,” Superintendent Stephen Tracy said.
The students, especially the eighth graders, were happy with the new set up.
“We’re going to be the first to graduate from here,” student Daisha Harris said (see the videos for more comments from Derby students).
Carly Cascella, 13, plays the clarinet. She’s psyched for the new band room.
“It’s supposed to be amazing,” she said.
Teachers were grateful for the new school as well.
Physical education teacher Mike Campanelli likes the fact he’s a third-year instructor at the school — and he’ll be working in a brand new gymnasium.
He was thankful to the city’s Middle School Building Committee, which played a key role in planning and supervising the school’s construction — and asked him for input on how to build the best gym they could.
Mayor Anthony Staffieri addressed the students Monday, then led reporters on a tour.
He said the Building Committee isn’t being disbanded — and that the city’s next challenge is to figure out what to do with the high school, which was built in 1968.
“I promised to do this,” Staffieri said of the new middle school. “Now I promise to do something at the high school.”
