West High School is currently in the process of adding a new wing to the building. The CTE (Career and Technical Education) wing will offer a wide variety of classes and opportunities to West High. According to the Anchorage School District ( website the wing will be 28,000 square feet with 11 new classrooms.

After nine years of discussion for the new expansion the construction finally began in August of 2014, and is expected to be done by December so it will be ready for classes come January 2016.

The new CTE wing is replacing and expanding on where the old cove used to be. This wing will offer students career pathways for process technology, health and sciences, and digital media. Giving West students more opportunities to come out of high school with useful experience for their futures.

West is an overcrowding school the wing will offer more space and classrooms for students. With the new expansion the school with be able to get rid of relos, two through eight, and have more classes in the actual building. Hopefully it will also give every teacher at West their own rooms, because many teachers are currently sharing.

West High’s principal, Rick Stone, is in full support of the new wing. He says, “It’s been so fun to watch it develop. The views from some of the rooms are just gorgeous” he went on to say, “It’s going to be a great work space.”

Stone is very enthusiastic of the new things this wing will offer West and the community as a whole. He also shared, “This is one of many improvements we have in store for our school.”

Having a dedicated area for these programs will be very beneficial. Sven Berglund, a teacher at West for 15 years, says, “It will be awesome to be able to teach process tech in a process tech room. We are currently trying to teach this class in a wood shop.” He went on to say, “It will be awesome to have clean, legit work space, and not have to change classrooms everyday.”

Berglund has been moving between two rooms that he shares with another teacher for three years now. “I can’t wait to not have to move rooms every single day,” He shared.

There will also be a medical academy classroom in the new wing. Kirsten Davis is involved in the medical academy. She is also very excited about the new addition to west.

“My classroom is going to be awesome. We have a regular work space with two lab spaces, one dry lab and one wet,” she said. “The ability to do skill training on cite at west will be so beneficial.” She went on to say.

West is a growing school, with growing opportunities. The new CTE wing will bring many great learning experiences to the students of West High school, and help set students on the right paths to accomplish their goals in dreams.