The bright sun that shined down from the sky on the morning of opening day at the new Atlantis Charter School campus reflected the bright futures of the more than 1,200 Atlantis Charter School Students.
The new 43-acre campus opened on Tuesday, February 27, 2018. The 98,000-square-foot school features two wings of open-concept classrooms equipped with the latest technology, a gymnasium, a track and field complex, and lots of open space. Large windows let natural light flow through while providing stunning views of South Watuppa Pond.
Students saw the school for the first time that morning.
“What was most heartwarming about the students’ first impression was the look on their faces when they saw the building and the excitement and happiness in their faces,” said Gabriela Birmingham, K-12 District Leader at Atlantis.
Birmingham says transitions like this one can be difficult for students, but Atlantis teachers spent weeks preparing students for the move and things went very smoothly.
“I am very proud of how our entire staff, our students, and our families came together,” Birmingham said. “I think the transition really shows our sense of school community and our sense of family. We all banded together to make the transition as smooth as possible.”
The biggest challenge on the new campus has been the traffic at arrival and dismissal times, but administrators are working to address the problem and they believe they have a good plan moving forward.
If you visit Atlantis over the next few months, you will continue to see improvements. Work is nearly complete on the gymnasium, and the track and field complex is expected to be finished in early summer. In the meantime, students and staff are taking advantage of all of the space the new campus offers – a campus that will become even more beautiful as the cold, snowy winter gives way to spring, and the trees bud and flowers bloom.