It's hard to pick just one thing to get excited about at Ewa Makai Middle School, Hawaii's newest, most energy-efficient and state-of-the-art public school campus.
But on the first day of classes yesterday at Ewa Makai, where some 600 students spent the morning taking guided tours with teachers, Tamara Tsuha gave it a stab.
"It has AC!" the 13-year-old said, practically bouncing in her seat. "And it's all new."
There are other things, too, that appeal to Tsuha: classrooms equipped with interactive "smart" boards and flat-panel televisions; "roving" iPad and laptop labs; and a host of eco-friendly features, such as overhead lights that turn off when no one is in the room and a large, sunny courtyard bordered by native plants.
Ewa Makai was built, at a cost of $67 million, to relieve serious overcrowding at Ilima Intermediate, where the student body topped 1,400 before seventh- and eighth-graders bound for the new campus made the switch yesterday. Construction of the 18.5-acre campus began in July 2009 and was concluded last month.
