Hendersonville – Hendersonville High School’s expanded, modernized, more secure campus was formally unveiled last week—showcasing more spacious historic Stillwell classrooms, a courtyard centerpiece, and a new artificial turf athletic field as the latest crowning jewels.
“It’s neat to get things going again, as they used to be,” longtime HHS principal Bobby Wilkins told the Tribune about getting the nearly century-old Stillwell structure back to classroom use as part of a 900-student HHS capacity. He told a crowd of more than 200 people at the campus dedication on Aug. 3 how it is now so “beautiful.”
Architectural firms PFA and LS3P Associates handled the $62 million project that finished on budget and nearly a year early. It encompassed 82,000 square feet of renovated space and the 115,000-square foot Campbell Boyd Building that opened a year ago.
School and county officials spoke, ahead of a ribbon cutting and reception indoors. Then Wilkins gave about 100 people tours of the Stillman and Boyd buildings. Wilkins stated that installing fire extinguishers is one of several minor finishing touches that will be completed this month. The campus reopens to staff on Aug. 15. Classes begin Monday, Aug. 29.
Henderson County Board of Commissioners Vice-chair Rebecca McCall equated the new-look HHS with the school in the film Back to the Future. She noted that when Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) traveled back 30 years to 1955 and first saw his high school then, he marveled at how “they cleaned up this place!”
Local officials spoke at the dedication in the new courtyard, in front of the Stillwell backside adorned with six columns. That neo-classical styling matches the gallant large auditorium columns on Stillwell’s front side, off of Bearcat (formerly Ninth) Avenue. The building is named after its famed architect, Erle Stillwell (1885–1978). It debuted in 1926.
Mark Garrett, the new Superintendent of HCPS, is astounded. HHS was established (elsewhere) in 1901.He called it “rare air” to have a small-town high school then.
Efficient Work
Supt. Garrett drew laughs, joking, “I finished the project in a month”—his first on the job. The project was completed in three years — 11 months early. Money was saved by such measures as renovating rather than replacing the auditorium and the 1974 Pardue Gym, and retaining stadium bleachers.
Asheville-based Vannoy Construction built Boyd and a new auxiliary gym and did demolition at an opportune time—largely during the pandemic with students off-campus. They learned remotely in the spring and fall of 2020. The school system phased in-school learning back in—first as optional—by spring 2021. By fall 2021, 15 trailers were deployed for some (i.e., math) HHS classes. English, social studies, and math classes are back in Stillwell.
In 2021-22, students studied in multi-purpose Boyd while Stillwell was renovated and the courtyard was shaping up. The Tribune calls elongated Boyd the “Learning Mall” — a nickname principal Wilkins said he likes. It houses Career and Technical Education (CTE), science, and science labs. It also contains the media center (library), band practice rooms, offices, athletic facilities, a trophy case, and a century-old HHS vault as an heirloom. Boyd and Stillwell both have student lockers.
Boyd took just over two years to build. It consolidates the cafeteria, kitchen, and music/band rooms from under-sized, free-standing structures demolished in 2019. The small cafeteria that jammed in as many as 225 youths, the kitchen, the “V” (vocational) building, and a few parking spaces were all around where the courtyard is. That is behind the home stadium stands.
Also in the first large phase, Jim Pardue gym was spiffed up while the dark, nearly century-old stone gym “dungeon” went down.
Before that, neighboring Boyd Auto dealership structures were removed in early 2018. HHS parking is mostly there. The new main building is named after family patriarch Campbell “Cam” Boyd. The Boyd family of HHS alumni sold its commercial property to the county on Jan. 13, 2015 after talks initiated in 2008, commissioner and ’78 HHS grad Mike Edney noted.
School Board member Chr. Blair Craven said “everybody came together” behind the ultimate project. Board of Commissioners member Chr. Bill Lapsley cut the ribbon. He said the project reflects the educational “tradition of excellence.”
Wilkins said he consulted with Vannoy crew chief Mike Massey on most school days for years. Henderson County’s newly retired capital projects manager, David Berry, oversaw cost details. Other project supervisors include prior Supt. Dr. John Bryant, longtime County Mgr. Steve Wyatt and his successor, John Mitchell.
Comfy Classrooms
HHS has 50 classrooms — 28 in Stillman, 22 in Boyd, with 19 upstairs. Boyd’s lower level cafeteria seats 400 people, including in auxiliary areas up stairs.
Stillwell now has fewer classrooms than before. But they are high-tech, let more light in, are larger and thus much more spacious. “Students had to sit nearly on top of each other,” Wilkins joked. “Now they’re spread out more comfortably. They can breathe.” Each student gets a laptop to use in class. Images on the teacher’s computer are projected onto a blank wall’s touch screen for students to easily see.
Stillwell rooms have more heat-resistant shades and windows, Wilkins noted. A consensus memory of HHS alumni and current seniors about Stillwell is how uncomfortably warm it got in classrooms. The worst was in rooms with windows facing west and thus getting intense, late-afternoon sunlight. “The sun blasted in there. It got really hot! “Jalon Blackwell said. She and Senior Class Pres. Lillie Connet held the ends of the wide banner for the ribbon cutting.
Secure and Connected
“This campus is the most secure of any (of 23 schools) in our system,” Commissioner Edney told the Tribune.
Craven, an HHS alumnus, is pleased that students are contained in buildings and in the new courtyard. He noted that for decades, students could flee campus while outside during lunch. Now “there’s no more sitting on the (Oakland St.) sidewalk eating.”
The centrally located courtyard leads to Dietz Field and the two large classroom buildings. The courtyard is bordered by buildings, and locked gates lead eastward to Dietz Field (and are locked during games) and westward to the main entrance off of Oakland Street. Visitors at the front gate can be seen by staff, and push a button to identify themselves on the intercom, as at other HCPS schools.
The campus is very near downtown Hendersonville. School City Police provide an in-school resource officer and security at athletic events.
Further streamlining access, Pardue Gym no longer has its own exterior doors. Instead, people go from a north-side parking lot and then through a Boyd hallway.
Connectivity is superb. That hall also goes from Boyd’s classes to Pardue Gym, which leads down stairs to weight rooms, locker rooms, and the practice gym. The elevated glass sky bridge links Boyd and Stillwell buildings, shielding students from bad weather between classes. The campus “flows,” Dr. Bryant said. “There are large common areas. It’s a tremendous design.”
Bearcat Legacy, Spirit
The seniors are quite proud to be the first HHS graduating class in the renovated Stillwell. They were in the transition from pre-COVID old Stillwell classes to remote learning, classes in trailers and the new Boyd Building as juniors, and now back in Stillwell. “We earned it,” Braden Elkins said. The Tribune calls the huge basketball player “Big Country.” He was among seniors who showed self-tour visitors HHS rooms after the dedication Aug. 3.
Stillwell’s renovated nearly 900-seat auditorium had its stage named in June in honor of late HHS teacher Thomas E. “Tom” Orr (HHS Class of ’57). He taught English, drama, and social studies and once chaired the school board.
The athletic field was converted from natural to artificial turf in recent months. Its field lights are brighter and re-aimed for more even illumination and thus better player visibility and performance. A cushioned rubberized track and a small new press box went in—also part of the $2 million Dietz Field phase.
A sentimental touch is using the old gym’s large rocks on the new school entrance sign off of Asheville Highway/U.S. 25 North, and on the press box supporting wall with “HHS” indented in them.
A humungous Bearcat cat paw is on Pardue Gym’s east exterior, by Dietz Field. Giant Bearcat eyes are an image near the school’s main entrance and near the athletic field’s hash marks between the 20 and 30-yard lines on both sides. Wilkins notes this adaps then-student Kathlene Beam’s design in 2015. End zones and much of the flooring are in vivid HHS red.
A humorous moment in the dedication was when wondering what a “Bearcat” is. A zoological definition refers to a fierce, shaggy red panda.
Principal Wilkins declared his own motto, “Bearcat—strong as a bear, fast as a cat.” The 1975 HHS grad has been principal since 2001. He was a Bearcat basketball star center. He coached HHS boys to their most recent state hoops titles—in 1987 and ‘92. His sons Jeff (Class of ‘04), Jon (’08), and Sam (2012) were basketball standouts. Bobby’s grandmother was a 1908 HHS graduate.
Bearcat scholar-athletes are traditionally young adults who demonstrate fierceness, tenacity, and generosity — as many alumni proudly say. As Wilkins told the Tribune, “Bearcat is about culture. It’s doing the right thing” without fanfare. “You meet high expectations, to do the best you can.”
Free tours of HHS meet in the main office Tuesday, Aug. 16 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Aug. 18.