A 'grand' opening
<span>More than three years after the old gymnasium at Chester Grade School was condemned, students got their first full look at the new facility in a formal grand opening ceremony on Monday.</span>
<span>The $5.85 million project was achieved thanks to $4.4 million from the Capital Development Board through former Gov. Pat Quinn's "Illinois Jobs Now!" statewide construction program.</span>
<span>No CDB representatives were in attendance, but they did send a letter of congratulations, applauding the district's efforts to provide a first-rate facility.</span>
<span>"I had to go over with my boys how to change in a school locker room," said CGS Athletic Director and Assistant Principal Dave Kaiser prior to the ceremony, which was the first school-wide assembly in three years. "They had never changed in a school locker room before except for basketball."</span>
<span>Monday's ceremony also included a short video set to the background music of Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" that showed the history of the construction process during the previous year.</span>
<span>"It is very important to remember where you came from," said CGS Principal Tim Lochhead, who served as emcee during the event.</span>
<span>The ceremony was attended by several representatives from various agencies and organizations, including the Randolph County Board, Monroe-Randolph Regional Office of Education, State Rep. Jerry Costello II (D-Smithton) and Baysinger Architects.</span>
<span>District 139 Interim Superintendent Bill Riley read two letters of congratulations, including one from SIU President Randy J. Dunn. Dunn, who wrote he remembers his time in Chester fondly, served as District 139's superintendent from 1991 to 1994.</span>
<span>Chester Mayor Tom Page also spoke, highlighting that he has three grandchildren who are CGS students and his daughter, Amy Eggemeyer, is the school nurse.</span>
<span>"The shortest speech in the world is summed up by one word," Page said. "Wow."</span>
<span>Costello also delivered a short speech, emphasizing that he could think of no better way to spend taxpayer and federal dollars than on education and "making our schools better."</span>
<span>The old gymnasium, which was torn down earlier this summer, was condemned in July 2012 due to foundation shifting and cracking from excessive rainfall in April 2011. </span>
<span>Added to the grade school in 1962, it served roughly 650 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.</span>
<span>Kaiser, who also used the assembly as a chance to introduce the school's fall sports teams, said the first basketball game in the new gym is a boys basketball contest scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 27, against Prairie du Rocher at 5:30 p.m.</span>
<span>The first girls game will be Monday, Nov. 16, against Murphysboro, also at 5:30 p.m.</span>