Schools

ACHS Ready For First Full Week, Fresh Start

Ankeny's newest high school will celebrate its opening with the community Sunday Aug. 25.

Ankeny students and staff are ready for their first full week at the new Ankeny Centennial High School after celebrating their first day in a new building, with a new mascot, but mostly familiar faces.

“It's been an incredible start,” said ACHS Principal Jen Lindaman, “We had a great celebration.”

Students have been adjusting well and most everything in the building is working properly, she said.

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“We're ready to rest, rejuvenate and have our first full week,” Lindaman said Friday.

The district's second new high school in two years is almost an exact replica of Ankeny High School now home to 10th and 12th graders who live in the city's south side. The floor plan for the new North High School is the same, but it's the mirror image of the high school the district opened in 2011.

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“It's very eerie,” Lindaman said.

Upperclassmen have been turning the wrong direction as they walk through the halls and of course some students are missing their old friends.

“We have not had a single student issue. The kids have been awesome. I'm sure they have friends who they are missing, but these kids communicate in lots of ways: Instagram, Twitter. ...”

Some students told the Des Moines Register that they were eager to create new traditions.

“This is something new,” 17-year-old Maddie Decker, a senior told the Register. “We can make it how we want it.”

Lindaman said everyone likes that opportunity to create something from scratch.

“I think they will remember the energy and excitement of being a part of something that hasn't been done in our state for more than 40 years and just being a part of the founding fathers of ACHS,” Lindaman said.

ACHS will celebrate an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. An official ribbon cutting has been slated for 3 p.m.

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