Just over a year after ground was broken on the new North Creek High School in unincorporated Bothell, the fourth Northshore School District high school is taking shape.
Deputy Superintendent Carolyn O’Keeffe said that when the high school is finished it will incorporate three buildings, multiple sports fields, parking lots and a restored wetland with a boardwalk, all of which are coming along quickly.
“We’ve been very lucky, we’ve got great crews,” she said, also citing the weather as a positive contributing factor.
Two of the large buildings will be focused on academics, with faculty offices, classrooms, a library and smaller meeting rooms in the main hallways, called collaboration cubicles, for students.
The northern end of the Northshore School District has been growing quickly in recent years, prompting the district to build the new high school on a 66-acre parcel of land located off 35th Avenue between 188th and 192nd Streets S.E., directly north and northwest of Fernwood Elementary School. When finished, it will be able to hold 1,600 students.
Environmental impact was high on the district’s list of concerns, Planning Principal Eric McDowell said.
From the porous concrete, which allows water to seep all the way through it and down to rainwater reservoirs, to insulation and wide-open exterior windows, the idea of conserving resources is front and center.
“We don’t want this to be an energy drain — a money drain — on the system,” McDowell said.
The school was designed with collaboration and cross-disciplinary engagement in mind. Many classrooms have a glass wall, which can be slid open facing the hallway, and lets teachers utilize hallway space in their lessons.
Technology will be central to the new school, with charging stations, televisions and a bring-your-own electronic device emphasis. Laptops and other necessary technology will be kept on-hand for students who don’t have their own.
What looks like an oversized staircase is actually a tiered seating space for students and faculty to use for presentations, movies or collaboration, which will be completed by two large flatscreen televisions.
The school also has rooms for students interested in science, technology, engineering and math careers, known as STEM courses.
One of the academic buildings holds a pre-engineering room where students can develop designs and ideas, and in the third building there is an engineering lab which, among other things, will house a 3D printer and laser engraver.
Also in the third building are the arts and music departments, a large commons and cafeteria which will house 800 people at a time, two sports gyms and weight rooms. A large theater is also included in the building.
North Creek has a plot of wetland on campus which the school district agreed to revitalize, McDowell said.
The district hopes to construct a boardwalk around the restored wetlands, as well as installing a walkway through campus connecting nearby Fernwood Elementary School and surrounding communities, allowing nearby residents easier area access.
A combination track, soccer and football field is also included. A second practice soccer field will be installed, as will a tennis court and a shot-put field.
O’Keeffe said the new campus will be a 4A level school, and offer students the same athletic and sports opportunities as the other high schools in the district.
The school will be open for the 2017-2018 school year for freshmen, sophomores and juniors. Seniors will stay at their current schools to finish out their diploma that year to prevent distraction.
Traffic concerns from neighbors led the district to install sidewalks and create three traffic access points: one for buses on 39th Avenue Southeast, one for visitors on 192nd Street Southeast, and access to the student parking lot off 188th Street Southeast.
McDowell hopes these help disburse school traffic through nearby areas so no one neighborhood has to bear the brunt of traffic flow.
Aaron Kunkler: 425-483-3732 Ex. 5052; akunkler@bothell-reporter.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
