CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — As students start a new semester, it will be the last for students at the old Mary Carroll High School building. Construction on the new Carroll building is expected to be completed this summer, and it will be ready for students by the start of the 2022-2023 school year.
“I’ve been here a few times over the past year. Each time I come, it’s more complete, you can see it, you can visualize it,” said Carroll principal Robert Arredondo on the new school. “It’s good to see that one wing that has the flooring, has the paint, the windows are in. It’s real, it’s here, it’s 2022, and in a matter of months it’s going to be open and ready to roll.”
Arredondo, a Carroll alum, was one of several CCISD staff members who joined media and the building’s design team for a walk-through on Wednesday. He attended classes in the old building, which was built in 1957. He’s excited about the new possibilities that will be available for students in the new building.
“It’s a new facility where we’re going to be able to offer unique programs that we haven’t to in the past, because of the facility possibilities here,” he said.
Nick Gignac with Gignac Architects is one of the people who worked on designing the new building. He also toured the facility Wednesday.
“It’s really exciting to know students are going to be occupying this building very soon,” he said. “What we’ve been looking at on paper, and on our computers, for years is now going to be a reality.”
When finished, the new building will be nearly 420,000 square feet, and have a 2,400 student capacity. It will have new, state-of-the-art classrooms, labs, and other learning spaces. It will have open floor plans for the cafeteria and library/media center, a competition gym with a 3,000 seat bleacher capacity and flexible performance space, and a 500 seat auxiliary gym.
Gignac said the new gym will be one of the premiere facilities in the area.
“I think that’s going to be the big difference in this school, as opposed to any other schools in the area, and it’s going to be a big addition for the district,” he said.
The design for the new building is based off, and an improvement upon, the last new CCISD high school: Veterans Memorial.
“When we were able to talk to the actual users of the existing Veterans Memorial High School, they gave us tips on how we can do things better for this school,” Gignac said.
Arredondo said while this will be a new building, it will still be Carroll High School.
“I’m excited about keeping those same traditions that make Carroll Carroll,” he said.
The expected completion date for the new building is July 1.
