Celebrating the past, looking to the future

In the years that the Highlands School has been teaching children, it has grown both in learning and in size. And now that the school has come this far, administrators are looking to what the future will hold.

Originally founded by Evalina Spencer in 1958, the school is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. 

“So we knew it was a perfect opportunity for us to really celebrate how far we’ve come, but also look to the future,” said Head of School Kavita Vasil. And to do so, the Highlands School started a capital campaign, “60 more years to … ” in the fall of 2017 to perform several renovations around the campus. 

The name of the campaign, Vasil said, “opens up all sorts of possibilities of what the next 60 years will look like and the kind of impact we can make on the lives of children and families.”

Under the campaign, the school is looking to raise $5 million of an $8 million project. As of June 18, they had raised $4 million. The funds will go toward a myriad of projects, which were decided upon by polling alumni, staff, students and families, said Director of Marketing Janey White. They also took into account how the school would like to evolve.

The most notable project is the new Student Life Center, Vasil said.

Vasil described it as an place where the kids could be themselves and spend time with friends in an educational environment. 

“We really wanted to do something that was going to impact every single student on campus,” Vasil said. The Student Life Center will take the place of the existing gymnasium, which does not have air conditioning, and will house a new gym with air conditioning, four classrooms, student hang out areas, a dining facility with outdoor seating and a commercial kitchen, which Vasil said the school does not have at this time.

The dining area and the gym will also have wrap-around porches looking onto the quad, which Vasil said helps connect the indoors with the outdoors. It will also provide the opportunity for additional outdoor classroom space, she said.

When the center is finished, it will be at about 21,000 square feet, much larger than the existing gym. Classroom renovations are also on the project list, and Vasil said they are working on creating flexible learning spaces with new lighting, new floors and new movable furniture and equipment. The idea is that the classroom can be changed “at a snap,” she said.

“We really focused on that because the world is changing, and we believe that environment is a key factor in teaching and learning,” Vasil said. 

She and her faculty consider environment to be the third teacher, with the first and second being the instructor and the student. By creating different learning spaces, Vasil said it will give each student the chance to learn how they learn best.

Construction and renovations are scheduled to begin this August, starting with the demolition of the current gym. 

Vasil said class programming will not be impacted, as Brookview Wesleyan Church — a 6-minute drive away — has agreed to allow Highlands’ P.E. classes to be held there. The school’s basketball teams will practice there, too. 

“They have been amazingly cooperative and helpful,” Vasil said of Brookview. 

Classroom renovations will begin the following summer, in 2019. The goal is to have everything open and ready to go by the 2019-20 school year, Vasil said.

“It will be quite the unveil for the 2019-20 school year,” White said.

Vasil said students are most excited about the new gym since it will have air conditioning, but she is looking forward to upgrading their current facilitates and providing students with a new environment to learn and grow in.

“It will be just a lot of exciting new firsts,” Vasil said.

For more information about the capital campaign, visithighlandsschool.org.

Editor's note: This article was updated at 11:07 a.m. on July 11 to correct inaccuracies regarding the Student Life Center and to note the size of the new center will be much larger than the existing gym.