CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Hamilton County’s newest school has officially been christened.
The ribbon cutting for the brand new Tyner Middle-High Academy was held Monday morning.
Monday’s ceremony was held four years to the day a group of students walked out of the old school in protest of its unsafe conditions.
The old school was built in 1937.
Despite the project costing nearly $100 million dollars, over $20 million more than its projected budget, the school was completed in time for this school year.
School leaders say today is about celebrating the students who were brave enough to take a stand, as they wore red ribbons in honor of them.
Former Tyner Academy principal Tiffany Earvin said, “Today we celebrate more than just a building. This beautiful new structure is the realization of a dream sparked by two courageous students, Jaylan Sims and Kaylea Moore, that they dared to believe that they, and those who came after them, deserved better. Their voices, their leadership, and their walkout ignited the movement that brought us here.”
Many of those students who took that stand four years ago are now away at college, with Sims and Moore at Vanderbilt and Howard Universities respectively.
