Video: Anchor's Aweigh For Marine Science Magnet High School

Education professionals, collaborators and long-time partners, reunited at the ribbon cutting of the Marine Science Magnet High School in Groton Wednesday to behold what some have been waiting 15 years to see. 

"I'd be here if I were dead," said retired superintendent Randall Collins, who was involved with the school's beginning.

William Magnotta, of the state Department of Education, was also on board since the beginning and said, "I'm not sure anyone would believe to finally be here and to finally have it open is just a dream come true for me and the state Board of Education." 

Collins said the school's already long and winding history exemplifies it's own core values of "perseverance, vision and collaboration" and is very well suited to "train the next generation of marine scholars." 

The school is run by LEARN, a regional education service center and will accept students from each of LEARN's participating districts. Students can attend the school free of charge and the sending high schools will pay tuition to the marine science high school. 

The school was sited on six properties before it landed on the site of the former Eastern Point School, according to Virginia Seccombe, executive director of LEARN. Construction of the final design began in May 2011 and workers were applying touch-up paint and preparing the grounds for paving during the ceremony. 

Architects of the school said the environmentally friendly attributes and the school's unique needs made it an interesting project to work on.  

"There's nothing about this school that's like a traditional school building," said Principal and Chief Architect Officer James LaPosta, of JCJ Architecture.  

LaPosta said the firm's design incorporated ecologically conscious features like geo-thermal heating system, a vegetative roof and solar panels. LaPosta said the new building's footprint is smaller than that of the former Eastern Point School and when the grounds are ready, they will install a small wetland marsh and filter water flowing through the flood plane. 

"This is a green building both literally and figuratively," he said. "This is the most exciting project I've worked on in the 25 years of designing schools." 

LaPosta said the mud room, the aquaculture science center, classroom labs, and collaborative learning spaces are unique attributes of the school. 

The school's first day is Wednesday, August 31 but will be enrolling students through September, according to Director Nicholas Spera. The school has  more than 100 students enrolled currently. 

"Not to sound corny," he said, "but I really consider myself the luckiest principal on the face of the earth."