Every student at East Meck has seen it. Whether it was when driving past the school, switching classes or walking to the bus lot, the brand-new three story building is hard to miss.

The new building is scheduled to open on Jan 23 and will bring many, much-needed upgrades to the campus and school programs. The building will house culinary, ROTC, foreign language, business and other career and technical education (CTE) classes.

Some of the biggest improvements will be for the culinary program. In the new building, they will have two kitchens with state-of-the-art equipment, including brand new fryers, three-compartment sinks, a real commercial dishwasher, a separate laundry area and more. The culinary program will now also have a significantly larger classroom and a dining room that may seat up to 75.

“Since we are now IB Career-Related, it’s going to give us the ability to really shine and be able to do even bigger stuff than we do now,” culinary teacher Carol Parrish said. “I think it’s just going to be great. People are going to come in and see that we are a first-class program.”

On another floor will be the world language classes. In the past, world language classes have been spread out around the school. There also is going to be a language computer lab on the second floor.

“The language lab will bring benefits to speaking and listening skills,” French teacher Andrew Uglehus said.

Business classes will also be moving to the new building on a different floor.

“I think it will be so much more space for the kids to operate,” Vincent Moore said.

Moore teaches Introduction to Business and Finance as well as Personal and Professional Skills.

“Unifying us I think will make us stronger as a department,” Moore said. “Having something new and having the first [multiple] story building, I think it will be great for East Meck.”

ROTC will be moving from the trailers to the first floor of the new building. The new building will bring bring better technology and more space for the program.

“Technology, space and all of our supplies being right there, that’s a big deal,” ROTC teacher Major Ray Cox said.

Overall, the new building will also keep more classes out of the trailers and in an actual building. It will allow for many subjects, such as business and foreign language, to be all on the same floor.

“Anything new is going to bring a different feel to the campus,” principal Rick Parker said.

Parker believes that because of the new building, East’s enrollment could possibly see an increase.

“It’s going to be great branding for us, [and] for new families coming in to see the new facilities,” Parker said.