Graveraet Elementary School officially opens

Graveraet High School is no more, instead it is the new home of Graveraet Elementary School, serving Kindergarten through fifth grades.  A ribbon cutting ceremony was held today to officially christen the new grade school. Graveraet was built in 1927 and with the community growing and changing it’s use got diluted. But community leaders felt the school, with such a connection to the area, deserved to remain at the forefront of educating youngsters.

“It’s grandness, it’s architecture but also that generations of families have gone through this school. A lot of students went through this high school that had grandparents, parents and now their children are going here. It’s a magical place that that has touched just about everyone in our community whether they went to school here or visited our auditorium,” said Sara Cambensy, Author, The History of the Graveraet School.

90 years later, Graveraet is still in use. Most recently used as a temporary home for alternative students. Those kids are now at Vandenboom and some construction changes made it possible to bring the school back to full use.

“Putting restroom in our kindergarten and first grade classrooms, we took out about three to four walls, did some re-carpeting a lot of painting and we added some things to the playground,” said Bill Saunders, School Superintendent.

Sara Cambensy also wrote a book on the history of Graveraet. All proceeds from the book will be used to maintain the fountain located in the front courtyard.