Orlando, FL – October 30, 2018 – Hundreds of cheering students, faculty, school board members, and local partners gathered to celebrate and officially dedicate the newly renovated Hillcrest Elementary School for Orange County Public Schools (OCPS). Wharton-Smith and HZ Construction served as construction manager on the project and C.T. Hsu + Associates served as the designer.
Held in the school’s new cafetorium, the ceremony opened with a heartfelt thank you from Principal Ruth Ortega followed by performances from the school chorus and enthusiastic remarks given by Orange County School Board Member Nancy Robbinson and School Board Chair Bill Sublette who stated, “To our colleagues at Wharton-Smith, C.T. Hsu and our Project Management Team, I say this without reservation at all – this is by far my favorite elementary school facility that we have built anywhere in the District!”
The scope for the $16.4 million Foreign Language Magnet School included demolition, renovations totaling 23,060 s.f., and the addition of a new two-story, 52,000 s.f. building that houses classrooms, resource labs, administration, art/music, dining/multi-purpose room, media center and support spaces. A new 130-car parking garage was also built and praised by Principal Ortega as the “best 2-story garage in town.”
Superintendent Dr. Barbara Jenkins also spoke and led the students in a spirited chant of “I will,” promising to always keep their new school clean, always obey their teachers and parents, and most importantly, agreeing to put their best foot forward towards achieving success. The dedication concluded with a presentation of Hillcrest Elementary’s rich history by Pre-K through Fifth Grade Students in Spanish, French and English; additional choral performances, and an official ribbon cutting.
Photographs from the event are located on the Wharton-Smith FlickR site here
