New Wingate school in Shiloh helping alleviate crowding for Mascoutah district
BELOW: In order, the new gym, art room and Media Center inside the new Wingate Elementary School in the Mascoutah school district.
From Illinois Business Journal news services
SHILOH – Mascoutah Community School District 119 opened its new 112,000-square-foot K-5 school for the 2015-2016 school year.
Wingate Elementary, designed by FGM Architects, of O’Fallon, and built by Poettker Construction, of Breese, alleviates overcrowding at Mascoutah Elementary, which enrolled nearly 1,000 students in the 2014-2015 school year. Currently, Wingate has the capacity to hold up to 550 students (as of early this month, 265 students were enrolled). A constructed shell is connected to the existing school that can be finished at a later date to accommodate another 300 students.
“It’s a wonderful place for the kids to come and a great environment for our students to learn,” Wingate Principal Randy Blakely said.
The school is in the Wingate subdivision, which is within the corporate limits of Shiloh.
The 21st Century learning facility was designed in five sections with each grade level having its own wing. Each classroom wing features a centralized extended learning area, which includes sinks for experiments and other projects and moveable teaching walls to create highly flexible, dynamic teaching spaces. All classrooms also include Wi-Fi and smartboards.
The school includes a two-story Media Center, gymnasium, cafeteria and a multipurpose room equipped with an operable partition, connecting to the Cafeteria allowing for additional seating. Sustainable design elements were incorporated throughout the building, including daylighting, a heat-reflective roof and energy efficient exterior envelope and building systems.
“People are very pleased with the building. Staff is especially excited about the shared space. The building’s gym, cafeteria and multi-purpose are also very beautiful spaces,” Superintendent Dr. Craig Fiegel said. “The building certainly captures the vision we had as a staff. We are excited about the flexibility the building provides Mascoutah for future student growth as well as in meeting the ever changing landscape of educational programming.”
Mascoutah Community Unit School District 19 encompasses 104-square miles in southwestern Illinois, including the city of Mascoutah, all of Scott Air Force Base, MidAmerica Airport and parts of the city of Belleville and the villages of Shiloh and New Baden. The district has approximately 3,700 students.
