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Photo by Dain Sullivan
Pictured is the new Wadena-Deer Creek Middle/High School.
A school of their own Community dedicates new WDC facility
Dain Sullivan
dsullivan@wadenapj.com Originally published September 1, 2012
There wasn’t an empty seat in the house Wednesday evening, as community members, students and staff flooded into the new Wadena-Deer Creek Middle/High School gymnasium for the facility’s long-awaited dedication ceremony. After an EF4 tornado moved through Wadena on June 17, 2010 and destroyed much of the town’s old secondary school, the new building’s doors were finally opened. School leaders estimate approximately 2,500 people showed up to celebrate. When Superintendent Virginia Dahlstrom stepped up to the podium toward the front of the gymnasium and threw her arm up in the air, the crowd exploded in applause. “Thank you all for your support over the past two years,” she said with a smile, as people listened from an area largely taken up by bleachers and folding chairs. The walking track that surrounds the sky-lit gymnasium was also packed with people standing shoulder to shoulder.
Dahlstrom went on to explain that while the school is 98 percent completed, she and other school leaders are thankful and impressed with the work that has been done to bring the school back to life. School Board Chair Steve Techam also spoke to the crowd, and reminded everyone that the community “faced the challenge of adversity and won.” “May this awesome new facility be looked upon with pride by administrators, faculty, staff, students and all those who enter the doors,” he said. WDC senior Sayde Anderson also spoke, highlighting the progress that the community has made since disaster struck two years ago. “Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next,” she said. WDC Principal Tyler Church stood up after Anderson, granting credit to all those who made the new school possible. M State – Wadena, the WDC Elementary School, project architects Perkins + Will, construction professionals Kraus-Anderson, the WDC School Board, alumni students and staff were among those he recognized. “For me, it’s hard to imagine just over two years ago we were standing at this same spot trying to figure out what we were going
to do with our school,” Church said. Additionally, Church thanked his wife and kids for their support. “I know I haven’t spent nearly enough time with you in the last two years,” he said to his family through tears, “but thank you for being there for me. I love you very much.” Following the ceremony, some stayed in the gymnasium to chat, while others lined the doors to tour the school, with student council members and faculty as their guides. As he watched people eagerly move toward the school’s main entrance to get a look at what amenities the facility has to offer, James Howarth, one of the main Perkins + Will architects behind the new school, expressed his excitement for Wadena. “It’s really fun to see people enjoying the building and hearing the wonderful words from the principal, the school board, the superintendent. It’s really been exciting, he said.
is a scrapbook of the progress the Wadena area made in the calendar year 2012. Featuring continued recovery from 2010, new businesses, new owners, new technology and new ideas. Inside are some of the milestones from 2012.
A spe cial supple m e nt to the Wade na Pione e r J ournal
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New school Continued on page 5