Moncton High students get sneak peek at new school

Members of student government and grad council toured the new Moncton High School on Monday and say they are impressed with the amount of technology in the facility that is set to open Jan.30.

Julia Owens, a grade 12 student who is also a member of the grad council, saysshe was amazed with the new building.

"The technology in that school compared to what we have now, it's going to be a crazy change for us," she said.

Owens will be one of several members of student government who will be helping fellow students to find their classes when the new building opens.

She says the floors are divided by subject, with trades on the first floor, English and humanities on the second floor and math and science on the third.

Owens is also impressed with the common areas of the facility.

She says the lounge areas all have places to plug inmobile devices and look more like a trendy coffee shop than a school.

"The cafeteria area with the stage, I was really surprised by how much I liked it," she said.

"It's really open and there's a lot of natural light and forstudent government. I'm excited to to starthosting events here."

There has been a lot of controversy about the location of the new high school which is on the Royal Oaks site on Elmwood Drive, but Owens says she has heard only positive comments from her fellow students after sharing photos from the tour.

"From the minute I was in there it definitely feels like home. We have our school colours everywhere, we have a nice showcasewith all sorts of artifacts from over the years."

"Everyone's just beenitching for exams to be over so we can move," Owens said.

Construction delays prevented students from moving into the new school in Sept. 2014 as planned.

Even though the facility was ready in October, officials decided to wait until January to avoid disrupting classes with a mid-semester move.