Oak Park and River Forest High School celebrated the official start to the highly anticipated Project 2 this past week with a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, June 4 at the high school.
Supt. Greg Johnson welcomed board members, community members, students, and everyone who came out to celebrate the massive new project which has priced out at $102 million.
“Project 1 is done. The track and field revamp is done and today we are here to begin Project 2,” Johnson said. “It has been a long journey but really a small part of the story and history of this high school.”
Johnson called Project 2 an “investment in our community and our students.”
“We are going to improve accessibility. We are going to impact sustainability and provide classrooms and facilities for future Huskies.”
According to Johnson, Nov. 5, 1966 was the last time OPRF had a groundbreaking ceremony, which was for the addition that was made to the gymnasium and the academic wing.
“Now we did do major construction a few years ago for Project 1, but because of COVID of course we couldn’t celebrate it this way with a groundbreaking,” Johnson said. “So fortunate and so happy to be able to do so today.”
Heidi Ruehle, director of the Imagine Foundation, was also at the ceremony to celebrate.
“This milestone is a shining example of what can happen when we all work together for the common good,” Ruehle said. “The partnership created around this project symbolizes our community’s commitment to excellence in education for every child who attends this public high school.”
The foundation originally had a goal of raising $12.5 million to help pay for the project, which was estimated at $102 million. But at the ceremony Ruehle announced that the foundation will be increasing that goal to $15 million. The balance of the project will be funded with money from the school’s cash reserves and through debt.
Construction of Project 2 is expected to be done by summer 2026 and will include the highly anticipated new pool as part of a total demolition of the phys ed facilities at the southeast corner of the Scoville Avenue campus.
Alison Welch, an OPRF parent to a rising senior and a future student, came out to support the project.
“It is about time that they are doing this,” Welch said. “The investment in the facilities is an investment in our students, and particularly the investments in the facilities related to physical development and social emotional development are critical to supporting this next generation.”
Welch said her daughter and her friends have already begun talking about how they want to come back and see the finished product, which unfortunately won’t be complete until after they graduate.
“They see how even though they are not going to be here, it is going to be exciting to come back to it,” Welch said.
Johnson took time as well to thank Joylynn Pruitt-Adams, former superintendent of OPRF, who stopped by the ceremony to celebrate alongside everyone.
“It was brave, it was bold. A lot of people said ‘wow, that cannot happen, we are not going to get that done.’ but you laid the footprints down for all of us to be able to do this,” he said. “So, thank you so much.”
Pruitt-Adams, who was the superintendent from July 2016 through June 2021, said it was important for her to come back and see the vision become a reality.
“To see the vision we had with the community back in 2016 finally coming to fruition and what it means, not just for the community, but the students that we serve,” Pruitt-Adams said. “Everything that was envisioned in this plan was to increase educational opportunities and to have those opportunities for students who walk through these doors at OPRF.”
Pruitt-Adams said she also plans to come back to see the finished product.
“Just to come back now and really see phase 1 complete, to see the new track that we talked about for years and to now see the work that is going to happen in the physical education facility, the pool — which really needed some work for the last 20 or 30 years,” she said. “Just to see that and see the community embracing this is powerful.”
