The light turquoise and white halls of the new Soddy Elementary School were filled with energy Thursday night as more than 350 people turned out to tour the facility and celebrate its long-awaited dedication.

Little girls wore fancy dresses and boys were dressed in khaki pants and polo shirts as they proudly showed off the fish tanks in the lobby and the colorful classrooms to parents and younger siblings.

“Everybody said, ‘Dress churchy,’” said “8, almost 9”-year-old Christina Bradley, who attended the open house with her parents and grandparents.

The newly constructed building cost about $12 million and offers wider hallways, better lighting and improvements in technology, such as laptops for teachers, new computers for students and flat-screen televisions in every classroom. Each classroom also received a Promethean Activboard, an interactive tool resembling a dry erase board that a teacher can write on with a stylus or use to engage students through interactive or Web-based lessons.

For complete coverage see Friday’s Times Free Press.