In a sea of orange and black, Edgewood Middle School students, teachers and school officials gathered Tuesday afternoon for a ceremonial ground breaking, signifying the start of the building’s renovation process. (Photo by Amanda McFarland)

WARSAW — The third and final ground breaking ceremony for the Warsaw Community Schools design build project took place Tuesday afternoon, March 8, at Edgewood Middle School.

Students, teachers and school officials gathered in front of the building, where freshly-dug soil was ready for the occasion. Donning hard hats, students picked up their ceremonial shovels to signify the official start of the project.

“We’re very excited as we start this process and thankful to our community for allowing us to move forward with our renovations,” WCS Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert said. “This is probably going to be the most complex part of the building project.”

Edgewood was originally designed with an “open concept” in mind, but as education has changed and need for more classrooms arose, problems soon became apparent. The design will cluster classrooms according to subject matter and will eliminate “nested” classrooms, those with no other access but through other rooms.

Hoffert noted the project is slated for completion some time next October or November.