Construction crews’ work is coming along at the new Knox Intermediate School. It’s to the point where they are finishing up the steel beam portion. As a fun way to let the students who will one day be Trojans at the new school leave their mark on the building, administrators held a topping-out ceremony earlier this week.

Topping out is a ceremonial rite of passage for construction workers. Topping-out ceremonies are traditionally held when the last beam is placed at the top of a structure during construction.

On Tuesday, students in classes from Overton Elementary School, the campus directly adjacent to the former Knox Middle School and new Knox Intermediate School, came out in groups to sign their names to the two final steel beams that would be added to the new school building.

It was actually the second topping-out ceremony held at Overton to celebrate the new campus. On Friday, several local stakeholders and Rowan-Salisbury Schools officials were on site to put their signatures on a steel beam as well.

“I think it is so exciting that we are finally at this point 20 years talking about Knox,” School Board Chair Kathy McDuffie Sanborn said. “We are finally to the point where we can put the last beam up and get the kids in there next year.”

Originally, the two events were to be combined into one, but inclement weather on Friday resulted in plan changes.

School Board Member Dr. Rebecca Childs’ daughters are currently at Isenberg Elementary School. Her eldest will be attending Knox Intermediate School in a couple of years.

“We are very excited about that,” Childs said.

Childs said the construction stands as a physical monument to the area’s commitment to public schools.

“I think it is a testament to the fact that our community really values education,” she said. “Despite differences, people are willing to come together to make it happen for our students.”

On Friday, several community members from various walks of life were on hand to sign the beams.

“All the signatures represent various parts of the community, and it shows that it takes all of us to make things happen,” Childs said. “Hopefully, this will be a process that we can replicate again and again throughout the system.”

For her part, Childs wrote a message to future Knox generations.

“I put excellence for all,” Childs said.

Sanborn elected to go a different direction.

“I did not leave a message,” Sanborn said, adding that her decision to leave it blank was symbolic in nature, leaving a blank space for the students to forge their own futures.

The Rowan-Salisbury School Board decided that the Salisbury-based school, which will no longer just be a middle school but serve students from 3rd grade through 8th grade, will be known as the J.H. Knox Intermediate School moving forward.

The school will retain Trojan as its mascot. Those developments were recommended by RSS Superintendent Dr. Kelly Withers during a March meeting. Withers explained that the recommendation to call the new school J.H. Knox Intermediate School came after soliciting community shareholder input regarding the new school alongside a community design team.

A similar process was conducted to determine a popular consensus for the mascot. Retaining the Trojan mascot offered the school a chance to hold onto a piece of its former years. Meanwhile, the new name reflected the modified grade offerings as a new 3-8 school while tying into the legacy left behind by Knox, a former Salisbury City Schools superintendent.

On Friday, Sanborn said, “We need to pay close attention to what the community design team is going to be doing. We are going to be presenting at the (April) 28 board meeting to look at some of the options and some of the plans that the community is designing for this school. It’s a great opportunity for the kids.”