When the halls and classrooms of Sunny View Elementary School fill up in August with the sounds of excited children starting a new school year, Librarian Angela Hall will be putting the finishing touches on school’s newest space.
Contractors began work on a 986 sq. ft. addition to the media center in June, a week after classes were over. Principal Kevin Weiss plans for the addition to be completed just before or as school opens on Aug. 25. The media center’s addition will increase the center’s total square footage to 2,815 sq. ft.
The addition includes space for four new computer terminals, new furniture, more shelving and a new interactive projector board. One non load-bearing wall will be removed to allow for the expansion.
The project is being partially funded by a bequest from a former volunteer of the media center, Stanley Modzelesky. A Tryon resident for the last 15 years of his life, and native of Connecticut, Modzelesky served as an administrative helper to Hall before his death in 2011.
“It was very pleasantly unexpected,” said Weiss about the $60,000 bequest. “The school is very well supported by the community, churches and families for supplies and such, but nothing before on this scale.”
The total cost of the project is $191,700, according to Bill Miller, Polk’s superintendent of education. “The project was actually bid twice due to the bids being higher than expected. The donation was approximately $60,000 and the Board of Education put in the funds needed to complete the project,” said Miller.
T.C. Strickland Construction, Inc. of Shelby, N.C. is the general contractor. John Walters, Architect, PLLC of Tryon is the project’s architect.
The original Sunny View Elementary School was constructed in the 1950s. Within the past 10 years, according to Weiss, the campus has expanded with the addition of another classroom building, a gym, kindergarten and pre-kindergarten classrooms.