The Bear Creek School Opens 52,000 Sq. Ft. New Upper School Building

REDMOND, Wash. - Sept. 2, 2015 - PRLog -- Today Bear Creek’s Upper School students in grades 9-12 start the school year in a new building! The new 52,000 square foot building sits on adjacent property south of the existing Main Building at our Redmond Campus on 208th Avenue NE. Construction was completed by the general contractor, JR Abbott Construction, Inc. in June, on time and on schedule, one year after commencing in June 2014.

The Bear Creek School is planning a Building Dedication Celebration on Saturday, September 12, 2015 from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The event will include children's activities, tours of the new building, and the dedication ceremony.

The new Upper School echoes a collegiate environment, with separate floors for the humanities and for math and science. The physical layout will accommodate increased enrollment and will enable additional program and curriculum development and integration. The centerpiece of the new building is a central atrium that offers flexible areas for learning micro-communities, study sessions, presentations, and student-faculty interaction beyond the classroom walls. This atrium will also serve as the cafeteria mid-day and theater reception area in the evening. The building features three large, dedicated science labs, a Student Leadership suite, an Innovation Lab, a state of the art library, and classrooms with lots of natural light and environmentally responsive features built in throughout.

The Performing Arts Center wing includes specially designed rooms for instruction in visual arts, music, and drama, as well as a green room and music lab. There will also be an auditorium-style theater, featuring 350 seats, a fly loft, and professional-level, digital sound and lighting systems. The theater, slated for completion in 2017, will be available for community rental when not in use by the school.

The new building will impact Bear Creek students in every division, not just the Upper School. Bear Creek has re-imagined its existing facilities to provide distinct, age-appropriate learning environments with additional space and flexibility for academic, programmatic, and psychosocial student engagement and growth. With the new building, Bear Creek will gradually increase its graduating class size to 72 students, while individual classrooms or sections will remain at 16-18 students.

For more information about the new building or the school, visit www.tbcs.org.

About The Bear Creek School

Founded in 1988, in Redmond, Washington, The Bear Creek School is an independent classical Christian school that believes only when faith, mind, and heart are fed together can students experience the fullness of education which produces leaders who think well and are compelled to engage the world.

Recognized as a 2014 National Blue Ribbon School, Bear Creek serves students from the greater Eastside and is housed on three campuses.  Redmond Campus on Union Hill serves kindergarten to grade 12 students. Valley Campus, also in Redmond, serves preschool students. Bear Creek Preschool has an additional campus in Sammamish serving students ages 3-5. The Bear Creek School is accredited by the Northwest Association of Independent Schools and AdvancED/Northwest Accreditation Commission.