Sai Aung Win

                                                                           Cing Nem

                                                                           Valeria Torres-Guevara

                                                                           Norah Ryden

                                                                           Noelle Lasley

                                                                           Teacher: Stacey Snyder

Terminology used in this book:

Former: The Lowell Building that the roof collapsed into in February 2019 (the one of which the first book was written in 2017)

Recent: The Cedar Falls site on Cedar Heights Drive occupied from February 2019-December 2021 while the new building was being built

Current: the newest Lowell Building that began for students January 2022 at 1707 Williston Ave

   This is the book written showing Lowell that was        constructed in 1931 at 1628 Washington Street.

One morning after a snow storm, February 20, 2019, the snow on the roof was too much to handle, and KABOOM!

Just like that the roof 

had collapsed causing 

devastation. 

Thankfully, nobody 

was in the building 

due to the snow day. News broke out quickly to teachers, parents, and the community through local news. 

Photos of the destruction

Moving after the Destruction

The decision to move to Cedar Falls was hard on everybody. When the teachers wanted to get their stuff from the collapsed building, they had to wait until it was safe. Then they were escorted into the building while wearing hard hats. They were asked to get in and out as fast as possible. The collapse was a very unexpected thing which caused many decisions to be made. The next page shows a communication addressing many questions students and parents had.

Community Support

When the roof fell down at Lowell many of the supplies and tools were buried or at least not accessible. The music room was specifically crushed and many important things were lost, such as many instruments, prizes, and other important things. When we moved to temporary (recent) Lowell all of the teachers and students were shocked at the sheer amount of support from the community. For example, the music room was stocked with other Waterloo building spare instruments so the music schedule could continue as planned. Not only that but there was an entire closet full of supplies such as notebooks, pencils, markers, crayons, and loose leaf paper that people from all over willingly contributed.

Busing to Recent Lowell

When we moved to the recent building, busing was very different. Almost everyone rode the bus and new bus stops were made. Some of the bus drivers were new and the buses tended to be late. On the first day kids were waiting at their stops for a while and parents started worrying about how there kids would get to school. Eventually some of the parents got impatient and drove their kids to school but nevertheless their was still a bunch of kids and their parents waiting for the bus. The busing did get more smooth over time and we adjusted to being bused.

Recess Differences

At the recent building we had no playground. There was only hard concrete that had served that building as a parking area. When we moved into the current Lowell we have not been able to use the playground as the equipment has not been put together yet. The playground is separated from the basketball court. There is a sidewalk leading up to the playground from the basketball court. We can play on both hard surface and the grassy area when it is not muddy.

Recent Lowell: Oasis

The Oasis is a name lovingly given to a smaller building alongside the main recent Lowell. It became  home to the 5th grade, art, library, gym, and music room, as well as many storage rooms. The gym was a long room and the roof wasn't the highest with pillars supporting the roof. The library had lots of shelves with rooms filled with new books and they also had a long window. The music room was two side by side rooms, one for teaching and one for instrument storage. The art room was just a normal room. The rest of the rooms were storage areas or classrooms.

Moving to Current Lowell

Lowell students had winter break two days early for teachers to pack their rooms at the recent Lowell (the temporary site). Teachers packed everything with a deadline of Saturday before break. Movers then took all the boxes to the new building on Sunday. Then the Monday & Tuesday teachers prepared their rooms to welcome students for the first time in January. 

Music teacher Chelsea Beckwith said, "You really don't realize how much stuff you have in your classroom until you have to put every single thing in boxes!" 

There was a lot of people helping with the move.

First Day at New Lowell!

On the first day there was staff holding up signs with grades on them. After waiting a bit, the staff went to the classrooms. Students were amazed. The gym had a wall that could be opened and closed.

Each group took a 

tour of the entire 

building so that we

could get familiar 

with our new home.