Kindergarten students, along with first and second graders at Oak Harbor Christian School have a new place to attend class thanks to a new addition to the 280-student school.

The 7,500 square-foot addition features classrooms, a library, teacher workroom and administration offices. Approximately 50 people were on hand Thursday for the traditional ribbon cutting ceremony followed by a reception and tour of the new building. Community leaders, teachers, parents and students attended the brief ribbon held outside as the temperature dropped.

“It’s exciting to see the vision come to reality,” said Carolyn Holbrook, a first grade teacher who has taught at the Christian School for the past nine years. She said the new classroom provides better lighting and acoustics that make the learning environment more inviting.

Construction began on the $750,000 project last April. The building is a pre-engineered steel structure.

Clark Donnell, Oak Harbor Christian School development director, said the structure provided good insulation, was affordable and allowed for speedy construction. The project included alterations to the parking lot, and such landscaping as a bioswale to help filter runoff.

He added the school was able to purchase the steel for the building six months before construction began. The material was stored at the Christian School. That allowed the steel to be purchased at a reasonable rate before inflation in construction material costs affected other notable projects in the county such as the juvenile detention center in Coupeville and a new high school in the Coupeville School District.

Students were able to start using the new building once they returned from their winter break. Including preschool, approximately 280 students attend the Oak Harbor Christian School.

The new building is needed to accommodate more students because the school has been growing in recent years.

With the students in their new classrooms, renovation work can continue on the oldest building on the school’s campus.

Donnell said the old building is built like a tank. Even though the building has a new roof, it needs new plumbing and electrical systems to keep up to date with modern technology.