Take a look inside the long-awaited north Calgary high school that is opening its doors to students

After more than a decade, North Trail High School in northeast Calgary will open its doors and welcome more than a thousand students this school year.

Faith Apomah will be entering the 11th grade of public school this year – until then, she took a 30-minute bus ride to Crescent Heights High School every day. He said the bus tickets were an extra expense for his family and he had to wake up early.

“The bus took a long time, there are stops, and in winter it does not work,” he said.

Community advocates rallied for years to see the school built. The communities of Northern Hills and Hidden Valley desperately needed a public school, said North Trail High School Principal Mike Bester.

This year, 1,275 to 1,300 students are expected at the Calgary school. (Terri Trembath/CBC)

She said she is excited about the school year, which will open for 10th and 11th graders the first year, and 12th graders the following year.

Bester will have about 1,275 to 1,300 students in its first year, and by September 2024 it will have about 1,800 or 1,900 students, the school's capacity.

“When you get all the students in here, it shrinks. It's the most interesting place. It's an amazing, beautiful building, but it comes to life when the kids come,” he said.

North Trail Middle School Principal Mike Bester said he is excited for the upcoming school year. (Terri Trembath/CBC)

“I'm very happy to be here and to have this opportunity. It's not an opportunity that comes along very often in a career.”

According to Rachel Gustafson, the teacher who heads the school's science department, the school is equipped with modern technologies.

The gymnasium inside the new Calgary North Trail High School. In its first year, the school will have approximately 1,275-1,300 students. (Terri Trembath/CBC)

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“Some of the things that the school ordered and the materials that we have, the students would not have seen at any other high school, probably in the city,” he said.

One of the new student labs at North Trail High School in Calgary. In its first year, the school will accept 10th and 11th graders, and next year it will open for 12th graders. (Terri Trembath/CBC)