BENTONVILLE — Streaks of blue and gold sand appeared Monday after School Board members and other community officials dug their shovels into what had seemed like an ordinary bed of dirt.
That sand represented the colors of Bentonville West High School. Monday's ceremony represented the official beginning of the school's construction.
Participants in the groundbreaking, all wearing hard hats, moved their shovels at the count of three, punctuated by the shout of "Wolverines," Bentonville West's mascot.
Wendi Cheatham, School Board president, thanked those who worked to win the community's approval of a second high school during a millage campaign last summer.
"Many people thought this day would never come," Cheatham said.
Monday's ceremony took place under a large white tent on the Bentonville West site, which is on the west side of Gamble Road, just south of Centerton Gamble Elementary School.
Michael Poore, district superintendent, pointed out the area directly west of the tent, saying that was where the school's performing arts center would be.