A high-spirited and awestruck Menlo community gathered in the atrium of the school’s new Creative Arts and Design Center on Aug. 24 to celebrate the official opening of the facility and completion of the Challenge Menlo campaign.

Students and parents alike wandered through the open, airy building, marveling at the state-of-the-art acoustics and fixtures. Student artwork and photography graced the gallery walls, while select performing arts classes showcased their work in the spacious classrooms.

“I see the smiles on people’s faces when they see the building, and that itself is a clear statement of why it’s important,” Chief Financial Officer Bill Silver said. He feels the Creative Arts and Design Center is an important community asset that will attract both students and parents to arts at Menlo.

Shortly before the grand ribbon cutting, Creative Arts Director Alex Perez spoke in celebration of the newest addition to the campus and the vital role it will play in the life and spirit of the school. Chair of the Board of Trustees Susan Ford Dorsey extended her gratitude to parents and donors who made the building’s construction possible, while Head of School Norm Colb shared with the Menlo community his high hopes for the facility and for the creative arts program.

At the culmination of the event, heads of the Challenge Menlo campaign Jay Hoag and Lynda Marren, along with senior arts students Christina Dong and John Welch, snipped the giant ribbon stretched across the foyer, symbolizing the official opening of the building.

“The excitement in the room was palpable,” Dorsey said of the ribbon cutting. She believes that the arts building will quickly become as important to Menlo students as the Menlo Athletic Center is. Menlo’s sports facility, the other component of the Challenge Menlo campaign, was opened in the fall of 2010.

To Colb, the arts are an essential part of excellence in education. “They inspire wonder, self expression, self exploration. This building, with its magnificent, open design encourages all of us to pursue those goals,” he said.

Though Menlo’s arts thrived even before the opening of the Creative Arts and Design Center, the new building brings each class and each student potential to grow even more. As the school joyfully expressed through its yellow event t-shirts, “Got Arts? Yes we do!”