PORT ANGELES — Eighth-grader Juno Simonson won’t be attending the new Stevens Middle School when it opens in fall 2027 because she and other members of the Class of 2029 will already be in high school.

But Simonson, the school’s student body president, said she was OK with that.

“We are really excited to see what this new school becomes,” she said at Saturday’s groundbreaking for the new building, which will replace the 1972 structure that will be demolished. “This is a huge deal.”

About 100 people attended Saturday’s event, watching as Port Angeles school board president Sarah Methner, vice president Sandy Long and directors Mary Hebert, Kirsten Williams and Stan Williams pushed their shovels into a ceremonial pile of dirt and threw it into the air.

A helicopter from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles conducted a flyover, members of the Port Angeles High School Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps presented the colors, the Stevens Middle School orchestra performed, and Stevens Middle School student body vice president Alice Shields closed the ceremony by thanking the community for its support.

The new three-level, 87,000-square-foot building will be double the size of the existing school and accommodate six- , seventh- and eighth-graders. The present facility built in 1972 serves just seventh- and eighth-graders.

It will a feature a single point of entry to control access to buildings, play areas and athletic fields. There will be indoor/outdoor learning spaces and a view of the mountains and water from the second-floor library.

Upgrades to the gym, which was built in 1960, will include new locker rooms.

“This is not just a new building, it’s a promise that we believe in our young people,” said Stevens Middle School principal Melissa McBride, who began her career as a teacher there 23 years ago.

Port Angeles School District Superintendent Marty Brewer noted that the construction start date has been moved up due to the efforts of the Port Angeles Capital Advisory Committee in effectively managing the budget. This is the final year of a five-year, $52.6 million capital levy voters passed in 2020. Construction on capital levy projects can only begin when all of the funds have been collected.

The school board has prioritized the hiring of as many local companies as possible. Brewer said that FORMA, the general contractor/construction manager on the project, received two bid packages last week from local contractors for earthwork and utilities.

Vanir will provide construction management services. The architectural firm Integrus’ design of the new school can be found at tinyurl.com/46dnxbp5.

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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.