After initially being scheduled to open in August 2023, the opening of the Rosa O. Valdes STEM + Innovation Center has been delayed and is now scheduled to open for classes on March 19.
The building has a substantial completion date of Feb. 16, deeming it sufficiently completed for its intended use. The construction team will use the following weeks leading up to the official opening to prepare the inside of the building for student use.
“Now that we have actual dates that we’re all working towards, I’ll start working with the division heads, as well as the department chairs to try to figure out a plan for moving into the new building,” said Associate Head of School/Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operating Officer Kendra Grace.
This marks the third delay in the opening of the Valdes STEM + Innovation Center since the start of construction. Previously, there were substantial completion dates in both October and December. However, the construction did not meet either of those dates.
Both Grace and Fredston Family Head of School Lee Hark say there are numerous reasons why the new building has not been able to reach the completion dates.
“This has been a process that started six years ago from the first conversation,” Hark said. “It’s been a long road that the construction has been over a year and a half and a lot of things that has wrapped into how long it’s taken. I would not point to one thing, but it’s the little things that date out.”
Grace agrees, saying that there are a lot of different factors that are affecting the construction process.
“It’s a really complicated building and the items in the building are technical and complex,” Grace said. “We’re also building the building upside down. All of the pipes and everything are under the floor as opposed to overhead, so we have to get that situated before everything else.
For fifth through twelfth grade, all math, science and innovation classes will take place at the Valdes STEM + Innovation Center. Grace says the building will lead to interdivisional collaboration, ultimately benefiting both students and faculty.
“The idea that Middle School students can see what Upper School students are working on is important,” Grace said. “There is so much glass in the building and the hope is to inspire people to want to take some of these classes.”
In addition to being an open space, Grace and Hark both say that they hope the building can be an inspiration to students and faculty, set the bar for the future of STEM at Greenhill and help build community.
“We want the building to be an engine of inspiration,” Hark said. “We want it to be a magnet for kids to be the closes thing we have to a community center on this campus.”
Hark also says that he hopes the new building will serve as a study space for students.
“There are going to be hundreds of places for kids to sit and study by themselves or in little groups,” Hark said. “We’ve designed the building so that there are places for kids to be, and while they are there to pick their head up every once in a while and look around and see what’s happening.”
While students are excited to use the new building for classes once the building opens in March, some senior students say they are disappointed that they did not get to use the building for the whole year.
“I am really excited to have classes in the new building,” senior Sofia Serrano said. “At the same time, I do wish that I would have been able to use the building for the entirety of my senior year.”
Freshman Mahedhar Sunkara shares a different sentiment.
“I want to take more design and innovation courses, and this new building gives me the perfect opportunity to do so,” he said.
