Book Closes On School Year, High School -- Terrace Mourns Old, Readies New

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE - Goodbye Hawk Dome, red-and-gray school sign and student murals.

Goodbye leaky ceilings, cold classrooms and outdoor lockers.

Today, the end of the school year at Mountlake Terrace High, students and faculty members say a bittersweet farewell to their old school. The upcoming demolition of the 31-year-old school and next fall's move into a new, $28 million campus have left many with mixed emotions.

"Everything is broken down," said student Danh Nguyn, 16. "But I'll miss the old school because of memories."

Most of the school's 1,100 students are sad about losing their beloved Hawk Dome, the only circular-shaped gym in the area. The Edmonds School District wasn't able to build a dome at the new school because of limited money.

"Not many schools have the Dome," said Tony Hull, 19. "Ours is original."

Students will no longer be able to say "Rock the Dome" to express excitement.

" `Rock the gym' doesn't sound so good," said freshman Kristen Vennes.

Lynnwood City Councilman Dave Gosset, a 1969 graduate of Mountlake Terrace High and former student-body president, said he has great memories of the Hawk Dome, including an impromptu tribute to an administrator.

"I remember I got the whole school to sing `Happy Birthday' to the vice principal," he said. "Later he told me it wasn't his birthday."

Others said they won't miss the old school at all.

"If I could throw the first sledgehammer, I would," said John Traxler, a math teacher and '84 graduate.

The old school has had problems with heating, leaky roofs and outdoor lockers. The Edmonds School District decided remodeling costs were too high compared with the benefits of building a new school. A 1986 bond issue is paying for the new school's construction, which started about two years ago. After demolition, the old school grounds will become a parking lot and athletic field for the new facility.

The ceilings of several classrooms have large brown water spots that look like coffee stains. Some teachers had to put buckets under the dripping ceilings during rainstorms.

"I came back from Christmas vacation and found one of my computers in a puddle," Traxler said.

The school's faulty heating system has made some classrooms too hot and others too cold.

"This building has outworn its usefulness," said marketing teacher Craig Olson. "Kids are coming in with huge coats on. They can't get comfortable.

"When they opened (the school), they were bragging they had built the school at low cost per square foot. Now it shows it."

When the school's walls come tumbling down, so will the student murals painted more than 10 years ago in the social-studies room of teacher Bruce Beaman. The traditional senior-class mural in the cafeteria already has been torn down.

Another part of the school, the hawk emblem on the floor of the Hawk Dome, has been cut out and packed away until the fall, when it will be displayed in the new building. It's one of the few mementos that will be saved from the old school.

"We have to rebuild memories in (the new school) because our old memories will be torn down," said sophomore Bridget Chervenell.

Still, most students and faculty members are excited to move into their new school and see it as a boost for school spirit.

"A new building is a new birth," Beaman said.