Communty celebrates new and improved Illahee Middle School

A ribbon cutting at Illahee Middle School on Sept. 22 marked the completion of the school improvement projects paid for by a 2017 voter-approved bond in Federal Way.

The $450 million construction bond was approved by approximately 62 percent of the vote and funded eight projects.

“I want to commend the Federal Way community voters for their foresight and generosity in supporting this and many other projects that have added immeasurably to our neighborhoods, our young scholars and to their families. The new middle school will be an asset to this community, supporting scholars in their educational endeavors far into the future,” FWPS School Board Vice President Dr. Jennifer Jones said at the Illahee ribbon cutting.

This bond funded the rebuilding of Lake Grove Elementary School, Mirror Lake Elementary School, Wildwood Elementary School, Star Lake Elementary School, Evergreen Middle School, Thomas Jefferson High School and Olympic View K-8 and Illahee Middle School as well as the Federal Way Memorial Field.

ASB students from Illahee led the ribbon cutting event, emceeing and sharing a speech to celebrate the new building.

“This new building honors our rich history while giving us the tools to write the next chapter of our legacy. When I first walked into this building, I couldn’t believe how amazing it finally felt to have a place that matches our pride and spirit,” ASB president Ella Smith said, adding that “one of my favorite things about the new building is the way that the same trees are still growing strong in the middle of our campus.”

These trees were preserved because of consistent community feedback during the design process that keeping them was important.

As with the other projects, rebuilding Illahee incorporated input from the community and its final design was created by “drawing on the voices of staff scholars and community members to ensure the new learning environment reflected the hopes, dreams and most importantly, student needs,” Superintendent Dr. Dani Pfeiffer said at the ribbon cutting ceremony.

New murals were just one element of the Illahee rebuild that guests of the ribbon cutting got to enjoy. Photos by Keelin Everly-Lang / the Mirror

New features

The original building was built in 1971, and before the rebuild, it was ranked in the top 10 schools needing to be rebuilt by the facilities planning committee, according to FWPS.

The school features a new garden that will provide learning opportunities and fresh vegetables for the school lunch as well as a new mini soccer pitch donated by the Seattle Sounders.

New dedicated band and theater rooms now transform into a full stage with lighting, new science labs, smartboards and more to help students learn with the latest technology. The renovated gym and fields provide access to healthy exercise.

“As you walk through the building today, you will feel the energy and the possibility that fills every corner. You’ll see the results of many voices coming together, staff shaping classroom spaces that spark curiosity, scholars influencing colors and designs that reflect our strong like pride and the community itself represented in the very spirit of our school,” school principal Brianna Ward said.

“These bright, flexible learning spaces aren’t just beautiful. They’re launching pads for dreams. They’re innovation labs for tomorrow’s leaders, and they’re safe havens where every scholar can discover their unique potential,” she added.

The ribbon cutting event brought together not only community leaders and those involved in the construction project, but also student and faculty alumni and prospective future students.

Caroline Vander Ark told the Mirror that she met her husband in seventh grade at Illahee and appreciated seeing some of the fond memories of the school’s traditions carried through today.

Illahee alumni Caroline Vander Ark and her two children with tour guide and eighth-grader Destiny. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / the Mirror

“I love that they had the students be the emcees,” Vander Ark said of the ribbon cutting ceremony, adding that she sees student leadership as a consistent element of the school’s culture. “I love that that continued … even just the students cutting the ribbon felt really symbolic.”

Vander Ark isn’t the only one who has a Federal Way Public Schools history.

Mayela Perez is an assistant project manager for Turner and Townsend who helped to make sure the final project all happened as planned. Perez is an alumni of Thomas Jefferson High School and said that her experiences there help her in her current role today.

Perez was part of the RAID Robotics team and said that her experience working as a team to design and build something in that program is similar to working on something as large as a school rebuild.

“It’s the same thing for a project of this scale. Demolition takes a certain amount of time, design takes a certain amount of time, building takes a certain amount of time. And everything has to be done within constraints and in order, chronologically, in order for things to come together, and for the record keeping of everything as a unit,” Perez said.

Destiny, and eighth-grader, was one of the student guides at the ribbon cutting and helped lead tours for guests. After her experience at the temporary middle school they were in last year, she said that the rebuilt school has an impact on the overall learning atmosphere.

“I feel like the environment creates a nice sort of place with the kids because it makes them want to act more mature and not mess around and mess up the school,” she said.

Students, local leaders and FWPS officials cut the ribbon to celebrate the completion of construction of the Illahee Middle School rebuild. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / the Mirror