HARRISONBURG, Va. (ROCKTOWN NOW) – City leaders officially unveiled Rocktown High School before it opens to students at the start of the 2024-2025 school year.

Rocktown, the city’s long-awaited second High School, was given a ceremonial debut as Harrisonburg City Public Schools Superintendent Michael Richards and members of the City School Board and City Council cut the ribbon on the steps leading down to RHS’ common area. In his opening remarks, Richards reflected on the near decade-long process to make the new high school a reality, and the symbolism of having past and present city council and school board members at the unveiling.

“So, there’s symbolism here: past, present, and future,” Richards said. “You’ve always got to keep an eye on your past – you’ve got to know it, learn from your mistakes and honor your past and your traditions. And the present – you’ve got to be aware of your limitations of the resources you’ve got and be aware of your opportunities.”

He added that the students who will enter Rocktown High School at the end of the summer symbolize the future in his analogy.

“This space isn’t for us,” Richards said. “It’s for the students, they own it and so we did this for them and with them.”

School board Vice Chair Deb Fitzgerald, who served as the board’s Chair when Rocktown High School was approved, pointed to the school’s library, called the ‘Learning Commons,’ during her speech.

“The books on the shelves in this library, and in every library, really provide the structure and the support that will build community here and will together, with the teachers and the staff in every HCPS building, will to turn the humans in our charge into thinking, feeling, reasoning, caring, and resilient adults,” Fitzgerald said. “We can disagree about hard things, we can read about hard things, we can learn hard things, we can do hard things.”

Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna Reed said the effort to build a second high school has been a defining aspect of her time on City Council – and one of the motivators that inspired her to run in the first place.

“When I returned home in 2014, the first Council meeting I attended was about the over-crowdedness of Harrisonburg High School, which was one of the reasons I decided to run in 2016,” Reed said. “This discussion has been ongoing for over a decade, and our students and teachers have been making the best of an overcrowded facility until today.”

Those who attended the event were also invited tour the campus at Rocktown High School.