CENTENNIAL — When Arapahoe High School opens to students Aug. 15, they will find two new spaces created for them after a shooting there Dec. 13.
Work will be nearly complete on a newly renovated library that was the scene of the shooting in which a student entered the building and began firing. Karl Pierson killed himself after shooting students, including Claire Davis, 17, who later died of her injuries.
“It was kind of the last key piece of getting over the events that happened to us,” Addison Calahan, 18, who graduated in the spring, said of the new library. “It was the last thing that really brought us back to Arapahoe. It was the last piece we really needed for students to get back to normal.”
Calahan was one of four students — one from each grade — and a few adults who helped design the new library, which will be 9,030 square feet, about double its original size.
The new library will be accompanied by a new garden plaza on 1 acre outside the school called Clarity Commons, which the Davis family commissioned and is overseen by Littleton Adventist Hospital. Bob Lembke, a friend of the Davis family, said the space is not intended to be a memorial for Claire Davis, but a gathering place of reflection and study for Arapahoe High School students. The Davis family declined to talk for this story.
“It’s a peaceful, quiet place that will hopefully lead to thinking by high school students,” Lembke said. “It’s just being conscious of who they are, and one of the themes will be kindness, being considerate to others, being mindful.”
Clarity Commons benefitted from numerous donations and will cost roughly $400,000. The project will feature a walkway with brick pavers purchased by community members, park benches, picnic tables, dirt berms to shield traffic sound and a graphite horseshoe from Claire Davis’ horse. It will be surrounded by a garden, for which $25,000 was recently donated by the Colorado Garden Foundation.
Jason Dunkel, director of business development at Littleton Adventist Hospital, said the hospital has a 35-year contract on the property so it can’t be changed during that time.
The new library is estimated to cost $1.1 million-$1.35 million, with a majority of the materials and design work donated by local companies.
It is also intended as a place for students to gather, study and build community.
There are more windows to let in more natural light. An Arapahoe warrior head greets students at the center of the library. There is a place where students can eat, drink and study, as well as a “genius bar” where students can get technology help from the school’s computer club. Desktop computers line the library, as opposed to a single computer lab, with power outlets where students can plug in laptops. There will be three study rooms where students can make presentations and collaborate
“One of the most important things to the students here is the collective nature, so we really wanted to create a space where students could come meet with their friends and add a lot of different dynamics, which is one of the reasons we put the study rooms in,” Calahan said.
The four teens said being on the design team was important for them to help their school heal.
“This was a way that I thought I could help,” Austin Brumley, 17, who will be a junior this year, said of being on the design team.
The library is expected to be open by Aug. 21. Clarity Commons will be finished by Aug. 16, Claire Davis’ birthday.
“We were really surprised when we were presented with the project,” Calahan said, “and I started crying because I was really overwhelmed with gratitude for our community and the wonderful thing they donated to us.”
Clarity commons grand opening
Where: Arapahoe High School, 2201 E. Dry Creek Road, Centennial
When: 2-3 p.m. Aug. 16
