New WMHS project proves a learning experience for students
By BEN HICKEY
WAKEFIELD — A new chapter is being written in town, brick by brick. The construction of a state-of-the-art, $274 million Wakefield Memorial High School has started and has progressed every day for the past 10 months.
The BOND construction team has been working to create the new building and has many of the school’s faculty and students eagerly awaiting its unveiling. In 1960, Wakefield Memorial High School was built originally as a junior high school. This was later converted into the current WMHS with additions having been made to the north and south ends of the school. From that point on, small improvements and modifications have been made so that they meet the accreditation requirements as planned. Moving past those small details, the high school has remained relatively untouched and has stood or 53 years.
Voters passed a debt exclusion to pay for the work on March 11, 2023. Construction for the new school began in March of 2024, starting with the demolition of the school’s Shaun F. Beasley Track and Field. The BOND team shoveled away the remains and in its place lay vast piles of dirt and granite. At the start of the new school year, that was all that students and teachers saw from their windows.
It wasn’t until the month of October when the early stages of construction began. The piles of dirt had been replaced with a smooth, flattened concrete surface where steel beams were being placed into the ground to form the skeleton of the building. This stage in construction is known as Steel Erection which involves raising and connecting the steel beams that form the skeletal structure of the building. Once the beams were all in place, a topping-off ceremony was held to mark the completion of the building’s structural framework. With the framework complete, the BOND team could move onward into the interior of the building.
The school’s interior is not yet complete, however, that doesn’t mean it isn’t safe and complete enough to house visitors. After the stairways and solid floors were added, the BOND team welcomed the WMHS engineering classes to tour the building and learn first-hand the process behind engineering. In an interview with Physics/Engineering teacher Catherine Cameron, much light was shed on the subject of what the students get out of these special tours. What they see in the real world of construction and engineering.
“They have more appreciation for the complexity of it. They’re more motivated to go back and learn the individual skills.”
Cameron feels that the tours provide a sense of education that one only finds through physical and observational learning and isn’t taught directly in a textbook.
“It’s easier to see oneself in a career with observational learning. Observational learning shows a connection between all areas and/or disciplines of learning,” said Cameron.
Cameron also believes in the strong collaboration between education and industry. Students can learn a great deal outside the classroom through observational learning and then go back and apply those lessons to their studies inside the classroom and vice versa.
“It answers the age old question; ‘Why do I need to learn this?’”
Cameron is one of two engineering teachers who have been given the opportunity to take their classes on a tour of the construction. Physics/Engineering teacher Jason Zerfas is another and he too has opinions and thoughts to add in regards to the construction and how it impacts the learning of the students that tour it.
“Observational learning requires students to think, discuss and develop an understanding over a long period of time,” said Zerfas.
Zerfas also believes that observational learning such as this is extremely important when it comes to problem solving and navigating through different challenges. Especially if your student wants to be an engineer later in life.
“Being able to solve problems and regurgitate information is not useful unless you can take that information and apply it in a real situation. Being able to see how all concepts work together and utilize all their senses to make the connections between the pure concepts and the real world should be the main focus of education.”
While Cameron and Zerfas have provided valuable insight, there is another person at WMHS who has had a great deal to do with the construction of the new high school.
Principal Amy McLeod has had a strong hand in overseeing this project since she was first given the job back in 2018.
“Seeing it be built piece by piece is really cool. It’s just such a visual reminder of the growth and expansion of Wakefield Public Schools. I wish the graduates could see the finished product,” McLeod remarked.
With regards to the BOND team’s help in moving the project forward, day by day, McLeod commented, “It’s been on schedule the whole time. The BOND team is super professional. They’ve been very collaborative.”
McLeod is absolutely right. Wakefield has been fortunate to have had access to local and professional teams from the construction industry over the years. The BOND team has done a very good job with the construction of the new high school and is grateful to have been given the opportunity to build something so significant in our town. BOND Project Superintendent Stephanie Crepeau had this comment: “It’s fun for people in construction. That’s why we’re here. It’s what we love. Construction is like, to me, a big puzzle. You just gotta fit all the pieces right and I have a fun time doing it.”
When asked about the student tours and what the students get out of them, Crepeau shared, “It’s nice because we’re at a point where you get to see all the phases of the job. The big thing I was talking to the students about was how everything comes together as a system…it’s a process. It’s nice getting the students out, getting to share this project with them and using the project as a teaching lab.”
Crepeau even shared her beliefs on what the teachers learn when touring.
“It’s a teaching opportunity also for the teachers, I think, because they’re doing a lot of the work in the classroom and then getting to see what’s going on outside of it and seeing how it relates to the work they’re doing inside the classroom.
During the construction process, there tend to be some challenges, obstacles or even minor setbacks. Jerry Hammersley, Crepeau’s co-worker and fellow superintendent, said, “We have 175 construction workers, 270 high school kids, with teachers and parents. It’s a little bit of a grind to get here in the morning.”
Other than the daily traffic jam, construction on the project is going steadily. Both Crepeau and Hammersley are extremely optimistic about it being completed on time and have no doubts that the new generation of students will enjoy their new and improved Wakefield Memorial High School. Construction is slated to end in December of 2026, following the construction of the new track and field in January of 2027 to August of 2027.
The grand re-opening of the school will take place sometime in September 2027.
