It was a great day for the Rocky View School Division yesterday (January 31) as the community celebrated the official grand opening of Fireside School.

The student body known as the 'Fireside Hawks' were enthusiastic and eager to show off the new community hub to honoured guests, parents, and community members.

Education Minister David Eggen travelled from Edmonton to partake in the morning celebration and shared how proud he was that the provincial government is making education a top priority. "It has been an amazing year or so, across the province we have opened more than 130 schools all the way from Fort McMurray to southern Alberta, not just the biggest school build in Alberta's history but the biggest infrastructure build of any kind in Alberta's history. I am very proud of that because it tells us that we are a young population, a dynamic population and that people are investing in the future by having families, building communities, and building hope and optimism into each of those decisions as they move forward. Our government is recognizing that even during an economic downturn we can not compromise the education of our children."

Fiona Gilbert, Ward 6 Rocky View School Trustee and Vice Chair of the Board, says it took a lot of collaboration to make the project come together giving credit to the government, Town of Cochrane, the RVS Board, Alberta Instructure, and many the engineers and architects that collaborated to bring the school to fruition.

The student-led celebration included a fantastic video montage which described the school motto 'open hearts, open minds, open doors' and a special song that was written, choreographed and performed by the entire school.

Fireside School encompasses youth from the communities of Riversong, the Willows, Riveria and of course Fireside.