Millersburg Elementary marks final community farewell

The end of an era tour hit Millersburg Elementary Tuesday, May 26, where a packed house of current students, former graduates and adults from decades of attending school at Millersburg flocked to revel in the history of the school.

With the district set to move to a new K-5 building on the high school campus next fall, this marks the final moments of school at Millersburg, where the building served as a high school before becoming the junior high and elementary and then just the elementary school.

Current Principal Steve Fowler said seeing so many people pay their respects while walking down memory lane was inspiring because it shows what the school meant to the community for many decades.

Fowler said the school building has served as a place of traditions, community gatherings and the beginning for countless friendships.

“Closing a building like this is never an easy thing to do,” Fowler said. “But everyone I’ve talked with tonight has been very positive, especially in sharing their memories. I think everyone is grateful to have the opportunity to come together, tour the building and share together. I’ve seen some tears, some laughter and so many people sharing together.”

While the event was great for the children, with face painting, inflatables, balloon animals, a caricature artist who was on the job more than two hours straight and plenty of food trucks, this really was an opportunity for community and staff to come together one final time in this setting.

Fowler said the staff is both eager for the move and a little saddened by a departure from a place many of them have called their second home for years. He did say one thing unites the entire staff.

“I think we are all looking forward to air-conditioning,” Fowler said. “Really, we’ve seen the entire gamut of emotions.”

He said cleaning out has been an experience as the staff uncovers relics that are decades old. The school building has gone through additions time after time over the decades.

But despite the aging building and all its major faults, it’s still hard to let go of something that is dear to the heart of the community.

Stacie McDowell, who has been the school secretary for more than a dozen years, said it is a bittersweet but exciting moment.

“It’s sad to leave a place we’ve come to know so well, but seeing the new school is very exciting to envision the future,” said McDowell, who will serve in the same capacity in the new K-5 building.

She said watching teachers box up their personal items and seeing the mountain of cardboard boxes expanding in the gymnasium makes her and everyone else realize each passing day draws them closer to the end of an era.

Millersburg Elementary has been part of the community for more than a century. It has taken a village to build it to what it is today, but as Fowler alluded to, it is just a building, and the compassion and care the staff provides to students will remain the same regardless of where they convene.

As people walked the halls, the memories and discussion wafted around each room and hallway as though the adults themselves were back in school, reliving precious moments in time that will always be there.