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Featured Event: Mooberry Elementary School Gym Grand Opening
March 10, 2020 - On Monday, March 9, Mooberry Elementary School held a schoolwide grand opening celebration for its new gym. Led by Liberty High School's drumline, Mooberry students, staff and families entered the building for the very first time, expressing awe and surprise at the size and beautiful interior. The Mooberry community has watched the gym being built since June 2019 and can now enjoy the completed structure.
Principal Pete Muilenburg was joined by special guests Jaci Spross, School Board member; Janeen Sollman, Oregon state representative; and students Joe Castro and Anayli Sanchez Cruz in the ribbon-cutting to officially commemorate the opening of the gym. Project staff and contractors from Mahlum Architects, Inline Construction, and Cornerstone Construction Management were able to see the effect of all their hard work in the students' excitement and enthusiasm.
"This school was designed in 1963 with a combination gym and cafeteria, which we called the 'gymateria' or the 'gymacafetorium,' Muilenburg remarked. "No offense to the previous architect, but this was not good planning."
Spross added, "this is a big milestone in Mooberry history. You now have a location for PE and activities that doesn't need to be shared with the cafeteria."
She noted that PE is important for physical fitness as well as brain development and health. The gym not only serves as a resource for the school, but also to the community. Not only will recreational basketball and volleyball be held in the gym, but it can serve as an emergency shelter after a major earthquake since it is built to "immediate occupany" seismic standards. Mooberry's gym is the second of eight new gyms that will be built with the 2017 Bond.
Castro and Sanchez Cruz, speaking for the student body, expressed how all students are excited to be able to use the gym, and not having to use the cafeteria for PE. They appreciated the support of the community in providing this resource for the kids.
The festive event culminated in "La Raspa," a dance practiced by the students to be performed by the whole school as the very first activity in the gym. Muilenburg, PE teacher Malgorzata Morgan, Spross and Sollman joined students and staff in this lively dance. Scroll down to watch the dance video and see 71 photo highlights...