Sunday, December 14, 2008

First Creek Middle School - Neighborhood School

New Tacoma school will be called First Creek,
KRIS SHERMAN; THE NEWS TRIBUNE Published: December 12th, 2008

When students enter Tacoma’s newest school next fall, they’ll walk through the doors of history. And – School Board members hope – they’ll be invigorated with a new sense of community.

The board unanimously picked the name First Creek Middle School on Thursday night for the $50 million, 850-student building rising along Portland Avenue near East 56th Street. It will combine the students of McIlvaigh and Gault middle schools when it opens in September.

The name derives from the salmon-bearing stream that was the first creek on the Puyallup River and home to a tribal village, according to information from a committee that submitted suggestions. Community members have been working with the city, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and the Tacoma Housing Authority to clean up the once waste-strewn T Street Gulch, drive out crack houses and renew pride in a wide swath of the East Side.

The message in naming a multimillion-dollar school First Creek “is that our community is worth working on,” said Natalie Dam, a member of a number of neighborhood action groups who also served on the naming committee.

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To read the full article please visit the following Tacoma News Tribune link:
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/education/story/565336.html

It can also be read in the newpaper dated: Sat 12/12/2008

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