Seventh-grader Paige Bossart, left, eighth-grader Nichole Pisierra, and Erik Langholz, middle, give a tour of Landstuhl Elementary / Middle School's new addition to a couple of guests on Friday. (Scott Schonauer / S&S)
Seventh-grader Paige Bossart, left, eighth-grader Nichole Pisierra, and Erik Langholz, middle, give a tour of Landstuhl Elementary / Middle School's new addition to a couple of guests on Friday. (Scott Schonauer / S&S)
Students walk down the hallway on Friday in the new, $7.5 million addition to Landstuhl Elementary / Middle School. (Scott Schonauer / S&S)
The Landstuhl Elementary/Middle School band performs at a ceremony celebrating the opening of a new $7.5 million addition on Friday. (Steve Mraz / S&S)
LANDSTUHL, Germany — Students, educators and builders on Friday ceremonially opened a new $7.5 million addition to Landstuhl Elementary/Middle School, which has seen its enrollment steadily increase over the last several years.
The 43,000-square-foot addition includes 18 classrooms and five specialist rooms. Teachers have been holding classes in the building for the last couple of weeks but marked the official opening with the ceremony.
The school mostly serves children of parents who work at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the military’s largest hospital outside the U.S.
“We know that those who work on this installation have hard jobs — some of the hardest in the military,” said Mark Roncoli, deputy district engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Europe District. “And we believe that the quality of facilities like these should match the sacrifice they’re making for our nation.”
Principal Liz Dunham said the new addition, which took 17 months to build, is something the school desperately needed due to rising enrollment and aging classrooms. The school has about 250 middle school students and about 850 total students.
“We needed all of the space,” she said.
The middle school section of the school will primarily use the new addition.
Middle school students organized and emceed the ceremony inside a gymnasium. The school’s concert band provided music, while other students offered entertainment. Students put on a skit based on the television show “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” that poked fun at some of the school’s outdated furniture and classrooms.
After the ceremony, students gave guided tours of the new facility for guests.
When eighth-grader Erik Langholz was asked what he liked most about the new addition, he couldn’t give an answer.
“Everything is so much better,” he said.
