New East High to stand as an all-city symbol

Plans include a Walk of Fame with 1,000 engraved brick pavers.
& lt;a href=mailto:viviano@vindy.com & gt;By JoANNE VIVIANO & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Wearing a red-and-white T-shirt that asks "Got Goals?", Ra'Sheeda Donaldson said she will never walk the halls as a student at the new East High School.
But she was excited to be part of Monday's groundbreaking for the $26 million school anyway.
"I think it signifies unity throughout Youngstown and getting the chance to come together and do something positive," said the Wilson High School junior.
Ra'Sheeda was one of several students from the Wilson and Rayen high schools to wear gray hard hats and pick up shovels to help turn dirt at the event.
The new 1,200-student East High School, scheduled to open in fall 2005, will educate youngsters from all sides of the city. It is part of the district's $182 million school facilities improvement project that includes six new buildings and renovations and additions to 10 others. Funding comes 80 percent from the Ohio School Facilities Commission and 20 percent through a local tax issue.
"It's going to change the mind-set," said Wilson senior Brandon Thomas. "If you have old schools, you have an old mind-set. New schools change the way you think."
Rayen sophomore Dennis Pixley said he felt proud to be part of the groundbreaking, and classmate Alexis Cox said it made her feel special. She said she'll likely attend her final school year at the new East High school, and she's excited because many of her family members graduated from the former East High School.
Also on hand were several alumni of the former school that opened in 1926 and closed in 1998 before becoming East Middle School. The alumni had petitioned school board members to have the new school carry the East name, despite other suggestions.
Here's the scene
The dedication was held outside the old building, which will be demolished to make way for a new P. Ross Berry Middle School. The new high school will be built behind the new middle school.
As schools Superintendent Benjamin L. McGee addressed a crowd at the event, he commented on Ra'Sheeda's T-shirt as she sat in chairs that ran along the new high school site.
"Yes. I really like that shirt. Yes, we have goals, and I can see from your shirt that you have goals," he said. "Right behind you is one of those goals."
McGee said East High School will be the site of a new program that will implement smaller "learning centers" within the larger building, as part of the Small Schools Initiative through a grant from the Cincinnati-based KnowlegeWorks. It also will have state-of-the art technology and a media center.
Other plans include a "Walk of Fame" that will allow community members to "purchase" one of the 1,000 brick pavers that will be laid in front of the school and engraved with the supporters' names.
Board President Lock P. Beachum Sr., a former East High School principal, called Monday a "very, very good day."
"I spent 10 years walking the halls of this building and I think those days are the proudest days of my teaching career," he said, referring to the former East High.
He told the students that two banners hung in the school when he was there read, "We are somebody" and "High expectations for all."
"Believe that. Hold on to that," he said. "If you have high expectations, your goals are unlimited, so let's go on and build the future."
Also speaking were board members Jacqueline Taylor, Terri O'Connor-Brown, John Maluso and Tracey Winbush. O'Connor-Brown promised students that the board would help ease their transition -- both emotionally and physically -- as they enter a new high school.
"As far as the eyes can see, your dreams can go, and beyond," Winbush told them. "We here in Youngstown are some of the greatest people in the world, and don't forget it. Dream large, dream big and dream wide and don't let anyone stop you."
Viviano@vindy.com