'Once in a lifetime': New LH Middle School opens with a flourish

Hollis, Campbell and Zoe Jacobie

Twelve-year-old Campbell Jacobie brought his grandparents, Hollis and Zoe, to the official grand opening of Lake Highlands Middle School Thursday night. The couple has lived in the neighborhood for decades and sent their own children to Lake Highlands Junior High, but they looked forward to touring the new building where Campbell has been attending classes since August 13.

Campbell gave the shiny new facility an enthusiastic thumbs up, and he had praise for teachers and staff for providing an orderly learning environment.

“I expected it to be more wild,” admitted the seventh grader, referring to stories he’d heard about rivers of noisy students working to find their classes. “I expected the hallway to be more crowded during passing periods.” He did, however, note one drawback of the three-story facility, built to serve grades 6-8.

“There are lots of stairs. Like, a lot,” he said.

Academically, he said his teachers at Wallace Elementary had prepared him well for his middle school coursework. Having a chance to choose which classes to take was a bonus, too, he said. “It’s more fun, because I can decide what I want to do.”

Campbell said he’s also enjoying merging with students from other elementary schools. White Rock, Northlake and Lake Highlands Elementary also feed into LHMS.

“I already know kids from other schools, and now I get to go to class with them,” he said. “It’s kind of crazy that we are the first kids to be in this building. It would have been cool to be in seventh grade last year and in eighth grade now, because we could have had a little bit of both.”

LHMS was constructed on the center third of the Lake Highlands Junior High footprint while classes were still in session. Once debris is removed from demolition of the old building, more parking and greenspace will be added on the west end of campus.

Richardson ISD Superintendent Tabitha Branum joined school board members to cut a red ribbon and welcome parents, siblings and community members for the first official tour, even as landscaping crews planted a final row of bushes along the north side of the campus.

“It’s going to be so great to walk through those doors and see what a true collaboration, a true testament of what teamwork does and can do for a school, a district, a community — it’s absolutely amazing,” said Principal Nick Rustin. “Superintendent Branum had mentioned to me already multiple times that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity as an educator to open a new building, and I take that to heart. I’m blessed to be able to be in this position and honored to be the principal of this amazing school and be a part of this amazing district. It’s been almost 20 years since a brand-new building opened in RISD, so this doesn’t happen every day. This is a special day.”

You may read Austin Wood’s article here with additional photos.

As he gave his grandparents the grand tour, Campbell shared advice for fifth graders as they prepare to move up to LHMS next year.

“Do leg workouts over the summer,” he warned. “There are sooo many stairs.”

Lake Highlands Middle School is at the corner of Walnut Hill and Ferndale.