HUNTER SMITH/THE EXPRESS The Hall of History, seen here under construction in August 2025, on a media tour of the new Bellefonte Elementary School along Airport Road in Bellefonte. Pictured on the left are the Learning Stairs, while on the right is where the trophy case exhibits will be located. The decorative vinyl will be placed around these and above.

BELLEFONTE — After years of construction, the Bellefonte Area School District is preparing to open the doors of its new $55 million elementary school to the public.

As plans for the school’s grand opening take shape, the public also got its first look at one of the building’s defining educational features at this week’s board meeting.

“Our administrative and office staff are very busy preparing for another school year,” Superintendent Dr. Roy Rakszawski said on Tuesday. “That’s where our focus is right now.”

Rakszawski said the district is considering two dates for a public grand opening that would give residents their first opportunity to tour the new school.

The superintendent proposed Monday, Aug. 10, or Wednesday, Aug. 12, for the ceremony. He said the dates were selected because they fall near the board’s only August meeting, the final one before students return for the new school year on Sept. 1.

The board did not choose a date or discuss the ceremony in detail, but Rakszawski said the district is using a modified version of the planning checklist developed for the school’s groundbreaking ceremony in June 2024, suggesting the event may follow a similar format.

Rakszawski said the event will likely be held in the evening and suggested 6 p.m. as a tentative start time.

The 98,000-square-foot facility is the district’s first new elementary school since 1961 and will serve about 600 students in grades K-5, with room for future expansion. Its first cohort of students is set to begin classes in September.

Alongside planning for the grand opening, officials also highlighted one of the new school’s signature educational spaces — the Hall of History.

Connecting the school’s most heavily trafficked areas, the Hall of History serves as its central artery, designed to showcase and celebrate Bellefonte’s history and heritage.

Former superintendent Tammie Burnaford, who helped bring the new school to fruition, conceived the Hall of History, which was developed in collaboration with district faculty and staff and local businesses. Burnaford, Rakszawski and Bellefonte Elementary principals Dan Park and Michael Baughman were all involved in its planning.

“Bellefonte has an extremely rich history, and so this is called the Hall of History,” Burnaford said in a media tour of the facility last August. “This hallway will feature pictures and displays highlighting the history of Bellefonte.”

Guiding the project’s development was Bellefonte Area High School history teacher, public historian and Local Historia founder Matt Maris, who worked with Bellefonte-based branding studio 3twenty9 to design the space, which is intended to be as educational as it is decorative.

The Hall of History’s visual design centers on a permanent vinyl installation spelling out “Bellefonte,” each letter filled with historic images of local landmarks and residents, flanked by postcard-style visuals on either side.

Maris said the concept was intentionally restrained in tone and scope.

“As these designs will be permanent, we tried to make it very evergreen, not too complicated and inspirational,” he said.

The centerpiece vinyl is visible from the school’s learning stairs and runs above television screens and trophy cases in one of the building’s main hallways. It includes imagery drawn from historic postcards and photographs, ranging from the Big Spring and train station to the Cadillac Building, Gamble Mill and Bellefonte Central Railroad.

The design is overlaid on the oldest known map of Bellefonte, sourced from the Centre County Library and Historical Museum. Imagery also highlights figures and moments tied to the borough’s history, including Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart and Bellefonte’s legacy of aviation and rail. Earhart, Maris said, visited Bellefonte multiple times and in 1929 was taken on a tour that included the Big Spring and Bellefonte High School.

He said plans are in development for binders or website pages that will offer instructional opportunities about who and what is pictured on the display.

Maris also outlined plans for rotating, museum-style exhibits within the trophy cases and on the hallway’s mounted TV. Board Member Donna Smith raised the question of long-term maintenance, with Maris suggesting a standing group could help manage updates over time.

The superintendent praised the project during the meeting, calling it “a great product.”‘

“It’s been wonderful to be part of the finishing of the school,” former superintendent Burnaford, who was there for the presentation, said. “It was a dream, and it’s really great to see that dream come to fruition.”

What began as a secondary design idea, she added, has become much more central to the building’s identity.

“The History Hall was kind of a side story at the time,” Burnaford said, “but it’s really developed into something pretty special.”

Rakszawski noted the expenditure for the project has already been approved.