By Kelly O'Connell Reporter
News 3 On Your Side
A new school opened in Columbus today and it was day full of excitement.News 3 On Your Side
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Stumble It!News 3 was there for the big day.
They’ve already been in school for more than a month, but today, some students got a second first day of school and it was just as thrilling as the first.
These kids are definitely excited.
And why shouldn’t they be, it’s the first day of school.
Eagle Ridge Academy opened its doors today to more than 400 eager students.
“We want to do this every morning,” says one student.
Students were welcomed to their new school by their principal, their mascot and lots of music.
It’s something they have been waiting for, for a long time.
“This is exciting, it’s just the culmination of many months of planning and preparation, a lot of long hours and hard work on behalf of the staff and it could not have come together better,” says Joanna Culbreth, the principal.
It’s been a process.
Students have been going to school at Midland Academy, just waiting for their new school to be ready.
It wasn’t scheduled to open until next school year but because schools have been so crowded, they worked extra hard to open it up today.
“There’s been a lot of excitement building up to this point and it’s just wonderful to finally be there, all the hard work is paying off now,” says Culbreth.
And it shows.
The school has state of the art technology in all of the classrooms.
And a media center full of books and computers.
Teachers and students couldn’t be happier.
“We are so excited, we have been up here for two weeks getting ready, we've thrown away all of our old stuff we had at midland and we have gotten everything new to match our school and its so wonderful, the space is great, everything, you could want we've got at our school,” says Judy Wallace, a second grade teacher.
“Really made it a special day and a day the child will always remember, the day they opened a brand new school,” says Culbreth.
And by the looks of the smiles on these kids’ faces, it will be a day they will remember.
The elementary school is not currently at capacity.
They plan to add another 200 students next year.
Eagle Ridge Academy is the second school to open up this year.
The first was Veterans Memorial Middle School.
