Truro Junior High Has Official Opening

Students, educators, and community leaders officially opened Truro Junior High today, Jan. 28, with a ceremony in the school gymnasium.

The $11.3-million school opened in September 2004 to more than 500 students from Grade 6 to Grade 9.

Education Minister Jamie Muir thanked the Truro community for its contributions to the new school.

"There's a real story here in the tremendous community involvement in the new Truro Junior High," said Mr. Muir. "The community responded with enthusiasm to the opportunity to build enhancements into the school.

"The wonderful music room, the expanded gym, the enhanced First Nations learning centre, and the multicultural centre are all the product of community involvement."

The community contributed $720,000 worth of enhancements to the project.

Trudy Thompson, chair of the Chignecto Central Regional School Board, congratulated the Town of Truro and the students on the official opening of the new school.

"This new facility will provide many wonderful educational opportunities for the grades six to nine students of Truro. We look forward to the enhanced experiences available to our students.

"Thank-you to the province of Nova Scotia for making the building a reality and to all of those who worked hard to make it happen."

The school has 51,130 square feet (4,750 square metres) of learning space, including two science classrooms, an information technology lab, 4,750 square feet (441 square metres)devoted to the arts, and a 2,100-square-foot (195 square metre) Family Studies space.

The Young Street building is part of an eight-year school construction program funded by the Department of Education worth more than $400 million.

The construction was managed by the Department of Transportation and Public Works.