WACO, Texas (KXXV) — Kendrick Elementary school Principal Isabel Lozano is celebrating the opening of a carefully designed campus featuring specialized spaces including a creativity-inspiring library and pottery kiln.
- The Kendrick Elementary project has been underway since December 2023
- The school is divided into neighborhood depending on grade
- The first day of school for the elementary school and Waco ISD is Wednesday, August 13, 2025
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
It's the start of a new chapter for Kendrick Elementary school principal Isabel Lozano as students prepare to enter a brand-new facility designed with their learning experience in mind.
"I am so excited think to the point where I can't even sleep. I'm just so excited to welcome the students on Wednesday," Lozano said.
In her eighth year as principal, Lozano says the journey to get to this state-of-the-art facility was no easy feat. The new school will serve more than 750 students attending grades pre-k through fifth.
"It seemed like it was 2 years of planning the building from passing the bond and advocating for the bond and a lot of zoom meetings because remember it was after COVID so we couldn't congregate and so zoom meetings, the bond passed and just the planning started so it was beautiful to be part of the design and give my opinion on what I thought we needed or thought that the community needed and it's just, it exceeded my expectations I would say," Lozano said.
From a library designed to inspire imagination to an actual kiln ready for pottery in art class, Kendrick Elementary students will have extensive resources for the 2025 school year.
The school houses pre-k through fifth grade, with younger students on the first floor and older students on the second. Each grade's hallway is considered a "neighborhood" with coordinating colors to help students identify their space.
Jayna Duke with O'Connell Robertson says this unique distinction for each grade level will have students feeling that this is their place to come to.
"It feels like this has always been theirs. That's really rewarding," Duke said.
The new facility aims to inspire creativity and learning in an environment specifically designed for young minds.
"I just feel like it's going to make kids come in and just be inspired and just light their creativity on fire and really be an awesome space where they're going to just enjoy going to," Duke said.
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