UVALDE, Texas — It was a bittersweet moment in Uvalde Saturday, as crews wrapped up the structural phase of construction on the new elementary school that will be replacing Robb Elementary.
More than two years after a gunman shot and killed 19 students and two teachers, the new Legacy Elementary School marks a new beginning.
“We want to make sure that they didn't pass away in vain,” said Jesse Rizzo, uncle of Jackie Cazares, one of the victims. “That something was left, you know, and the name is fitting. The legacy name was fitting for this.”
The groundbreaking for the new elementary school happened a year ago, and construction began in March. Months later, the Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation which is spearheading the funding for the new school, is holding a topping-out ceremony to mark the end of the structural phase.
“The school would not be happening were it not for the tragedy that happened back in May of 22,” said Tim Miller, the Executive Director of the Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation. “We are feeling very relieved that all the structures in place and then they starting to put sheathing up. In a few weeks, we'll get the glass, and we'll start drying in the building.”
The last beam was signed by families of the victims as well as people involved closely with the new elementary school. The beam will be at the top of the door leading to Legacy Elementary School, when the school opens in 2025.
“Yes, we want to move forward with hope, but we also want to make sure we don't forget the lives that were lost,” Miller said.
For Rizzo, passing by both Robb Elementary School, where his niece’s life was taken, and Legacy Elementary School, the school’s replacement, is difficult.
“I'm hoping that, you know, down the road in a year from now, when they do the ribbon cutting that you get to hear the children laughing and the teachers smiling and stuff like that?” he said. “That you know that from something so tragic that happened, that something from that, this this came up.”
Rizzo is grateful to the Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation, and hopes that as a new legacy is created, the legacy of his niece and the other twenty lives is never forgotten.
“If you look at the thickness of the beam, I mean, it's something you can't bend, you know, it's something that will forever be there,” Rizzo said. “It hurts. It's painful. But at the end, you can't give up, you can't lose hope and you can't lose faith.”
The foundation is still trying to raise $3.5 million dollars which will be matched to build the school. The school is still planned to open in fall 2025.
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