SPRINGDALE, Ark. — Southwest Junior High School invited all alumni, teachers, and community members to say goodbye to their old building on May 23 before they tore it down.
The event was called "Cougars Out," and had guest speakers, recognized former principals, opened a time capsule from 2004, and performances from the school's choir.
Students will attend their brand-new building for the 2024-2025 school year built behind the old one.
"This building itself was just dated," said Principal Curtis Gladden. "We could keep adding on or doing the renovations, but we thought it was time to just build a whole new space with the student population continuing to grow."
The new space will be bigger than the old and equip with lots of resources for students to learn.
"It's gonna be innovative spaces. Lots of open areas for student learning and collaboration," Gladden said. "It's going to have state of the art CTE, shop classes, welding bays, and agriculture space."
Walter Benson went to Southwest as a student from 1972 to 1974. He attended Thursday's celebration with fond memories.
"The walls were that green that you see over there is like the old military green hospitals," Benson said. "No air conditioning, you open the windows, everybody sweated."
Just a few years later in 1991, he returned to teach at Southwest and taught for 25 years.
"It felt a little strange at first, but felt like home automatically," Benson recalled. "I gained a lot more out of teaching and got a lot more from my students than I could have ever imagined."
He said he's very happy for students to get a new space to learn.
"I'm excited for them," Benson said. "I wouldn't even mind to come back and start teaching there."
"Just having the new shiny building will attract people. Students are really excited about getting in there. It's just something that the community needs" Gladden said.
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