Groundbreaking held for new Slade Elementary School

“It’s probably important that it’s so close to Thanksgiving, that there is an overriding theme of gratefulness that we have today,” said District Superintendent Dr. Jubal Yennie in his opening remarks. “Throughout this celebration this morning, you’ll find out how grateful we are, not only for the community we live in, but also for the state we live in.

Other keynote speakers were State Superintendent Jillian Balow, Representative Dan Furphy, Representative Cathy Connolly and Senator Chris Rothfuss. Of them, Balow, Furphy and Rothfuss had direct connections with Laramie’s educational system. Balow and Furphy attended Laramie schools. Rothfuss (and his wife) attended the University of Wyoming, left but returned 10 years ago because of the school system.

Balow attended fourth and fifth grade at Slade, and she reminisced about a certain tree. During each season of the school year, she said, the class would make drawings of the tree. Returning today, she commented, the tree is still there. She also spoke of the school and its students, faculty and staff, but primarily to the students.

“You are who keeps the school so strong,” she said. “You are the foundation. You are who make a school a school, and a community a community.”

Furphy called Laramie a city of leaders and dreamers. He also mentioned he was once told to always start with a joke, so he found one by the late comedian Milton Berle:

“I hate political jokes. They often get elected,” Furphy said, then grew serious, telling how difficult it was gaining funding for the school to be built. “It was a fight, a dogfight.”

This is why he called Laramie a community of dreamers.

“Things don’t happen until you dream, and then work to make them happen,” he said. “Laramie, keep on dreaming. Make things happen.”

Rothfuss was most profuse when speaking. He extolled the virtues the school imparts to its students beyond the basic “three Rs” of reading, ‘riting ‘n’ ‘rithmatic. He pointed out that Slade Elementary is only one of approximately 300 schools nationwide to earn the designation “Blue Ribbon School.”

It was during his presentation that he held aloft the blue ribbon one of his children who attends Slade Elementary received when the school was so designated. It is, he said, a source of pride for his son.

“This is a school that believes to achieve,” he said, and then asked everyone to give a cheer to “Slade Elementary Eagles.”

With that the indoor ceremony concluded and everyone ventured outside to where the groundbreaking digging would be held. Fierce winds made the cold more bone-chilling than it already was.

About the project

The new Slade Elementary is scheduled to have substantial completion on June 30, 2022, and ready to be used starting in the 2022-23 school year. The total construction cost is $17,581,000 with a total construction budget of $19,200.000. The new elementary school will cover 63,096 square feet, including an auxiliary gym, on a nine acre project site. The school will serve up to 440 students