Current and future students of Tewksbury Memorial High School joined 200 community members along with local and state civic leaders for a topping-off ceremony for the new school.

Also on hand were representatives of Heery International, which is serving as the town of Tewksbury high school building committee's project manager on the $67.7 million school. Other project team members present at the event included representatives of the architect, SMMA, and the general contractor, CTA Ventures.

Before being raised to the top of the structure, two steel beams were signed by the attending celebrants as well as seventh graders who will be the first students to graduate from the completed school.
The three-story, 219,000 s/f structure is designed to accommodate 1,100 students and will replace the existing high school built in 1959. Construction of the facility began in October 2010 and is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2012.
"This new high school is designed to meet sustainability standards as established by the Mass. Collaborative for High Performance Schools, a green building rating system designed specifically for Mass. schools," said Tom Ellis, Heery's Boston area manager.
Tewksbury Memorial High School is also part of the state's Model Schools Program, which adapts successful designs from recently constructed schools, speeding the design process as well as reducing associated design costs.