SAN ANTONIO – Wednesday was a special day for students, teachers and parents at Copperfield Elementary, in the Judson Independent School District in Converse.
An official dedication ceremony celebrated the official grand opening of the campus.
Superintendent Dr. Willis Mackey and Principal Gerrie Spellman joined students, staff and parents for presentations by students, followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The school has been open since the beginning of the school year, less than a year and half since an $83 million bond was approved to build it.
The new campus helped to relieve overcrowding at Salinas and Converse elementary schools.
Of the 650 students at Copperfield, three-quarters were transferred from Salinas Elementary.
Fifth-grade student Amanda Perez was happy to make the transition.
"This school is the best school I ever went to and I'm glad I actually came here. At first I thought I didn't want to come because I thought I would miss my friends but actually it was quite nice starting a new year here," said Perez.
A unique feature of this campus is the pod areas. Classrooms are grouped by grade level with common areas in the middle.
Glass doors slide open easily so classes can meet in the common areas for collaborative teaching.
"It's a very open atmosphere to have a lot of cooperative teaching and a lot of flexible space, which makes easy access for students to be collaborating," said Spellmann.
Spellman was an administrator at Salinas so she said she was already very familiar with a lot of the students.
In order to make students feel even more of a connection to the school, they helped to write the school song and helped choose the bobcat as their mascot.