in focus

Minerva Moves In

Minerva France Elementary School honors area history and includes contemporary features

Tyson Hilkert has been a part of Westerville City Schools since 2011. He’s worked as a teacher, intervention specialist and principal, but this school year presented another new opportunity: to lead a brand-new building.

Hilkert is now principal of Minerva France Elementary School, part of the district’s expansion in the southern end of the city.

“The first day of school always has that sense of joy and excitement,” he says. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience that and a brand-new school that nobody’s ever been to before.”

Hilkert welcomed students to the building on Aug. 11, but planning began years earlier. In 2019, the district recognized a student population growing beyond capacity at the time and identified the area south of Interstate 270 as ideal for new buildings. In addition to Minerva France Elementary School, Minerva Park Middle School is set to open for the beginning of the 2023-24 school year.

Honor the Past

Minerva France Elementary’s name is a tribute to one of the first Black graduates of Westerville City Schools, Minerva J. France. France and her family moved to Westerville in 1920. After graduating from high school, she went on to receive a bachelor’s in library science and became a librarian and English instructor at Wilberforce University, a particularly impressive

accomplishment for a Black woman before the civil rights movement.

France’s achievements continue to be an example for students today, says board of education member Vaughn Bell.

“We believe the community is in agreement that recognizing the accomplishments of Minerva France is important,” he says, “because her life, and now legacy, speaks to what we believe is a very positive message of hope to our young people: that if you apply yourself, you can accomplish great things.”

Not only is the school named after France, it features a permanent display highlighting her history and accomplishments.

The new building also pays tribute to Minerva Amusement Park, which existed in Westerville from 1895 to 1902, featuring a casino, rides, bowling alleys and more.

The elementary school’s architecture includes curved hallways inspired by the amusement park’s Scenic Railway roller coaster, and some of the building’s signs use fonts derived from the amusement park entrance tickets. The cafeteria also incorporates twisting ceiling displays.

Other glimpses of the area’s history can be found throughout the school. The school’s Green Line Learning Station media lab pays homage to the trolley car that once ran between downtown Columbus and Minerva Amusement Park. The room’s architecture and color mimic the old trolley car.

At the front of the building, a turret mimics those once present at the entrance of the park. That feature connects to a unique turret room to be used as a learning lab.

Following the amusement park, the land where the elementary school now stands once held a golf course. That bit of history is honored with a small disc golf course outside the building.

Live in the Present

While the building celebrates historical significance, it clearly exists in the present day with contemporary architectural choices and state of the art learning technology.

The new floor plan allows for more movement within the classrooms, Bell says, and includes furniture and technology to enhance students’ experience.

“We think it will have a positive impact on student learning, because these are spaces that have been designed specifically for them,” he says. “They’re not that kind of cookie-cutter learning environments.”

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The building includes a music room, an art room, a gym and small group rooms. The art room includes a ceramic kiln and gallery wall for displaying student works, while the small group rooms include computers and other learning technology and will serve as spaces for learning intervention, group projects and meetings.

“We’re going to have so many kids who walk in excited about music every day when they see this room,” says board of education member Nancy Nestor-Baker. “Walk into that art room and you can’t help but feel the urge to create.”

The building’s 24 classrooms are similarly equipped to create optimal spaces for learning.

Each classroom includes a sink, water fountain and interactive touch monitor. The kindergarten classrooms feature a surround sound audio system to project the teacher’s voice throughout the space.

The design choices also serve to create an appealing atmosphere for students and staff. In addition to the amusement park tributes, the school uses bright pops of color both inside and outside that take inspiration from a standard eight-pack of crayons. Those colors are complemented by an abundance of natural light from many large windows throughout the building.

Prepare for the Future

The elementary school is a preview of what to expect when Minerva Park Middle School opens its doors next school year. Though plans for that building are still in progress, Nestor-Baker says it will pay tribute to the green space throughout the area.

“We’re looking at that one in ways that honor the natural beauty of Minerva Park,” she says. “(The area) has always been known for its beautiful trees, and its attention to its environment.”

The construction of the new buildings is important not only for their students, but for students throughout the district. The new schools, supported by voters in the community, will allow buildings throughout the district to more closely match their capacity and better utilize resources, says Assistant Superintendent of Operations Scott Dorne.

“That (community) support allowed us to create a couple of new spaces that are closer for students to their home, but also allowed us to make schools across the district more appropriately sized and provide additional specialized learning environments,” he says.

Maisie Fitzmaurice is a contributing writer at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.