Today, we’re taking a trip down memory lane to revisit the story of Sumas Elementary- a project that has captured a special place in our hearts since its completion in 2022. This project withstood many obstacles when the town of Sumas experienced a natural disaster in the midst of construction. This event led to an inspiring tale about how a strong community can make it through the worst of times. Here’s a look back into the process of this project and the resilience that kept it alive.

Early Stages of Sumas Elementary

The original Sumas Elementary building had exceeded capacity, with just as many kids outside in portables as there were kids inside the building. Addressing this issue became a priority for the school district, so the process began to provide a new building for the community. Megan Vigre, principal of Sumas Elementary at the time, recalls “[we] met for a year in a planning phase before taking it to the community to vote on to pass a bond. It was roughly a couple years before the school reached construction.” With the project located in Sumas, WA, conveniently in our backyard, we bid aggressively in hopes of securing the job. Excitedly, we did.

The town of Sumas, constructed on a dried up lake bed, has an unfortunate history with flooding. Due to this, there are strict guidelines in place detailing the required elevation for future buildings. In order to satisfy these guidelines, our design team proposed an elevation of 18 inches above the 100-year flood mark. After extensive back and forth, the city would settle with the elevation being 3 feet above the original mark.

By looking at the chart above, you can observe that even a slight increase in elevation is a substantial amount since the graph is exponential, so hitting the 3 foot mark was a dramatic change. Despite initial reservations about the necessity and cost, the designers adapted the plans to accommodate this increase.

With the plans approved, earthwork began during the spring of 2021. Truck after truck began unloading dirt onto the site to get the foundation near the agreed upon elevation. This process, referred to as preloading, took four months to complete. During this time, our team had the luxury of extended project planning before construction could begin. Our project superintendent, Connor Smith, detailed “the extra bit of time on the front end during preload gave us a luxury of being able to plan, think through, and vet, which if you have the opportunity, allows you to execute pretty efficiently”, and that it did. By fall, the project was progressing way ahead of schedule.

Disaster Struck

On the week of November 8th, residents and business owners in Sumas were warned of an impending flood that would hit the town that following Monday, the 15th. As floods were not uncommon, the community began to sandbag their properties, some covering them in plastic, in preparation of what was to come. Sadly, this time it wasn’t enough.

“I’d never seen anything like it, it was out of nowhere. I was here the day before, it was wild” Connor reflected about the horrendous scene he experienced that Monday. The flood hit hard and fast, submerging homes and buildings all throughout the town, with water reaching 3 to 4 feet high. Connor and other Faber members who lived nearby sprung into action as soon as they heard the flood was trapping people in their homes.

Luckily, it seemed as though anyone with a boat had the same idea. It was detailed that the sheriff worked quickly to rescue people from their homes, but also leaned on volunteer boaters, like Connor, to quickly evacuate everyone trapped from the water. Walkie talkies were given to the volunteers in case of emergencies, providing an open line of communication directly with the fire department. “It was a bunch of fishermen and duck hunters on sleds, there was even a dude out on a jet ski” Connor described; “everyone was doing everything they can to shuffle people back to safety.” It took the entire day until the community had been evacuated and transported to temporary accommodations.

In Sumas alone, “floods damaged about 85 percent of the homes” cited The Columbian, a local newspaper out of Clark County, WA. With water levels remaining high in the days following, our team geared up in waders and returned to the old Sumas Elementary building to assess the damage. Over the next two weeks, every material that was salvageable was recovered from the existing school and moved to an offsite storage facility. The demolition of the existing building was scheduled in six months, but was quickly moved up to prevent molding and potential biohazards that were eminent if the water logged building was left to sit.

When the water had receded to a safe level, Megan had the opportunity to visit the school. “There was more water inside than there was water outside” she recalled. “For teachers to see mountains of books [destroyed], most of them having purchased those books, it was hard.”

Rebuilding Through Teamwork

Although the flood had impacted the entire community of Sumas, everyone rallied around each other to help out in any way they could. People from all over the state were pitching in to restore Sumas to the best condition possible, post flood. “It was heartwarming to see a community care, not just the Sumas community, but the community of the entire state” Connor said. Within two weeks, our team was up and running, resuming construction of the new school, but with a redefined purpose. The flood had displaced all the students and teachers, with everyone having to commute to another school in the areas surrounding Sumas. We knew this project needed to be done quickly in order to get the students and teachers back into their homebase. The next seven months were filled with determination and teamwork, with everyone pulling the project to completion.

With the finish line in sight, the school district had arranged a parade for every student who went to Sumas Elementary to come and see the new building. One of the beloved bus drivers from the district, Kurt, in partnership with the fire department and police department loaded the students into school buses and drove them to their new school. The students experienced a grand entrance, as fire hoses formed a water archway for them to pass underneath as they arrived on the premises. We were lucky enough to be present during this parade and experience the students' initial reactions to the project. “For me personally, just because my mom taught in this district, my dad taught in this district, I grew up in this district, the current PE teacher was the same PE teacher I had when I was going to school here, it was a completely different completion just because of the ties. The community cares about the school as well” Connor admitted. In addition to the parade, there was a moving up ceremony held for the students moving into the middle school the following year.

Reflecting on the Project

As we look back on the journey of bringing Sumas Elementary to life, we are filled with pride. This project, even through the challenges, remained true to our core values, with teamwork being the guiding force. We embrace the fact that our job is not just to construct a building, but to also build relationships, earn trust, and act with integrity.

“We often had meetings where it was all the people involved in the building process, our superintendent, the architectural firm, and Faber, and those were fun. They all really got along and brought humor. Of course things go wrong when you’re working on anything this ginormous, but because of the humor and the trust they had built with one another, that time was joyous. I enjoyed going to those meetings because it was fun to hear about the process and what we need to think about next and just observing how people problem-solve” Megan detailed. The way we approached this project is a guide for how we believe work should be done, through genuine care, mutual support, and a positive attitude. Our team, along with our subcontractors, embody these principles, fostering a collaborative environment rather than pointing fingers.

We also prioritized open communication between all parties. Each teacher who was a part of Sumas Elementary was well informed and had the opportunity to make their spaces unique to them. With a say in how the school looked from the bottom up, the teachers were quite involved during the whole process. “If I asked a question or tried to understand something or needed something, [Connor] never made me feel silly for asking and always went out of his way to help. That really matters, that’s quality. You’re getting a quality person who is building a quality building” Megan explained about her experience with our project superintendent.

As the final construction came to a close in August 2022, Associated General Contractors of Washington named us as its recipient of the Grand Award for Construction Excellence for 2023. This incredible accolade wouldn’t be possible without the help of our crew, the design team, all the subcontractors, the school district, and the community who came together in a time of disaster. This project was special to us. We’d like to extend a special thank you to Sumas Elementary for your trust and praise.