Hundreds of residents toured the new Lincoln Elementary building Wednesday afternoon.

A special grand opening ceremony was held during a public open house.

Principal Rich Schulte tells KNIA/KRLS News the evening was a chance to thank the community for their support of the $14.5 million project. He says the faculty and kids have acclimated well to the new setup.

“I think the teachers have, day-to-day, modified things to make their classrooms work for them and to make it feel like home,” Schulte says. “And now the kids–it’s just where they go to school, they don’t think much about it.”

“They were in awe of, ‘wow this is a cool building,’ on day one, and by the end of the second week, it was ‘this is just where we go to school…it’s just been a very smooth transition.”

Students moved into the new facility in February. Additional improvements will be made through the end of the summer after demolition of the old building is finished by Tulip Time.