BEVERLY — It's still a construction site, but standing amid the wallboard, culinary arts teacher Sue Pitman got her first look at her two new classrooms in the Beverly High School academic wing.
"This is amazing," she said. "I can picture it. There's ceilings and walls and lights."
She walked around the rooms, pointing out where the industrial-sized stove would go, and how she'd arrange the tables in the main space. An abundance of natural light flowed in from the adjacent courtyard.
"So we can get our lunch and sit out there?" she asked Superintendent James Hayes. He nodded.
About 100 students a semester sign up for culinary classes, which Pitman and Jane McHenry have taught in a classroom half the size of the new space.
"It's going to be wonderful for our program," Pitman said. "It's so good now, and this can only make it better."
With the first floor of the building nearing completion, Hayes has been taking teachers and staff on tours of some of the main rooms in the new high school — like the library, guidance office, nurse's office and culinary center.
"Now you can get a feel for the space," he said.
The first peek is exciting, and it gives them a chance to start mentally decorating, but with an itemized list of all the furniture and equipment — from a three-drawer filing cabinet to an electric can opener in Pitman's case — the tours serve a purpose, as well.
"This is the final pass before we go out and buy," Hayes said.
If teachers see anything is missing or anything they want to change, now is the time to speak up, School Committee President Annemarie Cesa said.
"After this, any change greatly impacts the budget," she said.
It didn't take much for Pitman to imagine students cooking on counters, washing the proper kind of soup pots in large sinks and pouring salad dressing into economy-sized containers, "like you see at Shaw's."
"We'll have all the state-of-the-art equipment we need," she said.
"Merry Christmas," Hayes joked.
The $80 million project is on schedule, and perhaps slightly ahead. Students are expected to move in next January, but officials say it could be as soon as November.
"Right now it's Thanksgiving," Hayes said. "That's the targeted date. Last year at this time, we were just breaking ground."
The oohing and ahhing extended beyond the culinary arts center as Hayes led the way toward the old auditorium. Standing on the stage, it was disorienting to see a floor where a sea of seats should be. Student graffiti dating back to the 1970s still covered the walls of the prop room.
"This is unbelievable," Cesa said, scanning the signatures for names she recognized.
Pops of color stood out in the dark hallways, with quick glances of cream and blue tiles in the bathrooms and pumpkin orange walls — a palette meant to complement the official school colors of orange and black.
"I just couldn't wait to come see it," Pitman said as she looked around. "This sort of makes it start to feel real."
Staff writer Cate Lecuyer can be reached at clecuyer@salem news.com.
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