Hilltop Montessori expansion on track to be ready this fall
The new addition to Hilltop Montessori School is almost complete and ready to welcome students in the fall.
The Phase 3 expansion, which was set to be finished by the end of July, will offer additional space to both the school, the north Shelby County community and the town of Mt Laurel.
In total, the new facility expansion cost $3.5 million and will allow Hilltop Montessori to have a total value of more than $7 million, school head Michele Wilensky said. Though the price tag seems high, she said the addition will offer invaluable meaning to the school and its students.
Wilensky said students were enthusiastic about the construction process and were fortunate enough to even participate.
“Halfway through the construction, the students were allowed to visit the site,” Wilensky said. “We even allowed them to sink their hands into a concrete path that led to the new building.”
The new building will house a stage for performances, a standard-sized gymnasium that can be used for events, a science lab, an art studio, two music classrooms and a full teaching kitchen that was modeled after Alice Water’s Edible School Yard in Berkley, California.
The addition was also built with the same “green” principles as the school’s current facility — an LEED-certified building with the U.S. Green Building Council.
“In keeping with our desire to educate children in a sustainable setting, it was very important to the school’s administration, faculty and board that the expansion mirror our current facility and also blend into the Mt Laurel community,” Wilensky said. “We intend to allow our Mt Laurel neighbors the opportunity to utilize the space after-hours for events as a sign of our appreciation to Mt Laurel, who graciously gave us more land in Mt Laurel to build the building properly.”
Though the faculty and community are preparing for the grand opening, it is the students who seem most excited to begin using the new facility. From speaking with students, Wilenksy said they seem most excited about taking advantage of the gym space.
“I think that they are most interested in the gym, but when we gave them a preview, all the students ran up onto the stage and started dancing, so perhaps we have some more interested in drama,” Wilensky said.
Whether the students are more interested in athletics or art, Hilltop Montessori’s new addition will allow them to express whatever desire they have, Wilensky said, and the upcoming school year will definitely be one the students and community will remember.
The official ribbon-cutting ceremony will be Aug. 14 at 2 p.m. Hilltop Montessori School is located at 6 Abbott Square. Updates can be found on the school’s website, hilltopmontessori.com, or by phone at 437-9343.