CCSD Celebrates New Cherokee High School

Once a Warrior, Always a Warrior – no matter the address, is the feeling that filled the new campus of Cherokee High School in Canton today at its official ribbon-cutting ceremony and community open house.

(See more photos from today's celebration online here) 

The Cherokee County School District today celebrated the new replacement campus for the historic high school with the special event in anticipation of its official opening on Aug. 3 for the first day of school.  The school’s staff enjoyed a tour earlier this month, and open house events for its students will be held during summer break.

“Cherokee High School is more than a place to learn – it’s the heart of our community,” School Board Vice Chair Patsy Jordan, an alum of the Class of 1973, shared in her remarks at the ceremony.  The speakers connected the school’s past, present, and future, with alumni, current students, and rising freshmen participating.

Senior Class President Aven Wright, who spoke at the ceremony to place the last beam during the school’s construction, returned to celebrate its completion.

“It’s incredibly exciting to know future generations will build on the legacy we preserved,” she said.

Within budget and on schedule to open on time, the School Board-approved new campus at 1500 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. adjacent to Teasley Middle School replaces the district’s oldest high school, which opened in 1956.  The new school has been designed to accommodate its 2,600 current students and growth up to a total enrollment of more than 3,000 students.  Attendance boundary lines for the school are unchanged.  

“Thank you for your perseverance, positive attitude, and Warrior spirit,” School Board Chair Janet Read Welch said at the ceremony to the audience of alumni, retired and current educators, students, and families who have long awaited the new campus.  “We’ve made it.”

The $179 Million construction cost has been funded, as approved by voters, with Education Special Local Option Sales Tax (Ed SPLOST) revenue and associated bonding.  The school district also earned $31 Million from the state government to help pay the cost, reducing the overall CCSD cost to $148 million.  

In addition to this project, three other School Board-approved major school construction projects are underway: a classroom addition at Woodstock HS and a second gym addition at River Ridge HS, both set to open in August; and a second gym addition and athletic improvements at Sequoyah HS, set to open in phases over next school year.  Our School Board is laser focused on ensuring our students are learning more, growing more, and achieving more in our classrooms than they could anywhere else!

The new replacement Cherokee High School includes 152 classrooms with flexible seating and smart boards, a 1,000-seat auditorium, a 4,500-seat football stadium, a 3,000-seat competition-level gymnasium, a practice gym, two global learning classrooms equipped with additional technology, library media center, a greenhouse and courtyard among its features.  

The Career Pathway building accommodates Cherokee High’s numerous job preparation programs, such as healthcare, welding, construction, automotive, agriculture, and more, with new equipment and special features like hospital-style bays, cutting-edge welding workshop, an JROTC drill pad.  The fine arts programs will benefit from the auditorium’s larger competition-level stage and loading dock, three visual arts classrooms, band and music rooms equipped for acoustics and with special features like music libraries, instrument lockers, and easy stadium access for the marching band.  A Special Education wing provides a dedicated interior hallway, larger classrooms, meeting spaces, offices, life skills learning space, playground and a new home for the Warrior Grounds coffee shop operated by Special Education students.  

In addition to the football stadium featuring artificial turf, an artificial turf field is available for PE classes and practice by athletic teams and the marching band, and the baseball and softball fields are equipped with artificial turf.  The athletic facilities also offer two weight rooms and a dedicated wrestling room. The school’s cafeteria features five serving lines where students can order from different daily menus, with another line featuring a to-go window allowing students access to pick up breakfast from outside the building.  The improvements to the cafeteria, which can manage all student and staff meals in one location instead of the two at the current campus, are one example of how the project’s design enhances daily operations beyond teaching and learning.

During the open house, several thousand community members toured the facility and had the opportunity to make special memories, with activities ranging from signing celebratory banners and filling out memory cards to recording video reflections and taking photos at designated “Kodak moment” spots.

The halls were filled with mini reunions as former classmates and former CHS teachers reminisced sharing, as Superintendent Mary Elizabeth Davis described it, “the common experience of being a Warrior.”  The celebration, she said, “turns a page in the great story of CHS.”

“I hope today fills you with hope – hope for the future,” she said. 

The open house at the new campus followed a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by current and past School Board members, Principal Andy Hall and past Principals and teachers, Cherokee County elected officials and community leaders, school and county PTA leaders, current and retired educators, and current and former students.  Past Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian Hightower, who recommended the school’s construction to the School Board, also participated.  The campus was designed by MSSA-PBK and constructed by Carroll Daniel.
#CCSDElevateTheExcellence #OnceAlwaysAWarrior