It was all about Lockwood Pride. And, looking around the astounding campus of Lockwood School from the bleachers of the magnificent new stadium, taking in the imposing new high school building, as well as the spectacular grounds and refurbishments of other school buildings, there is a lot about which Lockwood citizens can be proud.
Thursday evening could not have been more perfect for the several hundred people who “social distanced” in the bleachers and for the speakers and administrators who produced the Grand Opening celebration of Lockwood High School.
The crowd included Montana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen and Yellowstone County Commissioners, as well as district trustees, school administrators and teachers, Lockwood civic leaders, contractors, representatives of BSEDA, and of course, prospective students of all ages.
The colors were presented for the first time by Lockwood’s Boy Scout Troop No. 42, and for the very first time the national anthem reverberated across the field played by the Lockwood High School Band and sung by High School Principal Gordon Klasna and High School Music Teacher Quentin Staton.
There will not be throngs of jubilant high school students descending upon the high school on opening day, August 26, as would normally have been assumed, instead there will be a restricted number of students at any one time. They will split their time between classrooms and at-home learning, as required by health officials concerned about the spread of COVID 19, but there will be joy nonetheless at the prospect of a very bright future for Lockwood’s education system.
This year there will be only freshmen and sophomore classes attending Lockwood High School. The strategy is to phase-in each class level so Lockwood students attending other high schools can complete their high school education in those schools. The freshman class began last year at Lockwood in the CTE building, the construction of which was prioritized so that it could be used to accommodate the class for that year.
The long, long struggle involved to get a high school in Lockwood was the reoccurring theme of the evening’s program, with many “thank yous” extended to the many people in the community who over the years mobilized to make it a reality – from administrators and trustees, the volunteers headed by Chad Hansen, and most especially the Lockwood citizens who committed to tax themselves in support of the almost $50 million facility.