Elm Street Middle School will be closing at the end of the current school year. Courtesy photo/City of Nashua

NASHUA – Having stood the test of time for 85 years, Elm Street Middle School reopened for its final school year on Aug. 29.

Completed in 1937, the school’s construction was funded in part by a $270,000 federal grant under President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation. With 952 students, it is now the third largest middle school in the state, according to niche.com.

Eighth grade math teacher Catherine Belanger was a student at Elm Street and later returned as a teacher.

“I feel like I’ve grown up at Elm Street, both as an adolescent and as an adult,” Belanger said in an interview with Nashua ETV.

She said this is her 29th year at the school and had planned to eventually retire from Elm Street.

“When I walk into Elm Street, I feel like I’m home, it just relaxes me,” said Belanger.

When it comes time to move to the new McCarthy Middle School next fall, Belanger said she wants to take one of Elm Street’s multi-colored wall tiles with her to frame. Those tiles, she said, have been there since her days as a middle school student.

Patricia Davidson has taught seventh grade science in room 303 since she started at Elm Street in 2000.

“There’s so much history in this building, so much community,” she said.

Seventh grade social studies teacher Jon-Michael Pearson has taught at Elm Street for the past 22 years. In addition to teaching, he has also coached basketball, track and soccer.

“This building means a ton to me,” he said. “It’s my home away from home. I love it here, it means the world.”

Pearson said he had hoped a renovation project would have kept Elm Street alive.

“It’s a great building, I wish they would’ve fixed it up,” he said. “I’m sad it’s going away.”

Science teacher Denise Rock-O’Hara said she taught in Cambridge, Mass. before joining the Elm Street faculty 22 years ago.

“When I had the chance to come here I grabbed it,” she said. “This building, at its core, is a great place for the kids to learn and grow. It’s been a great inner city school, a great hub for all the families around here.”

Art teacher Janet Moran, who has been at Elm Street for 25 years, said the ice cream social has become a flagship event that helps support children in need as well as the Art Program.

“Our community comes out for that,” she said. “I’m going to miss Elm Street very much,”

Literacy teacher Jennifer Chantler has run the gamut, teaching students in grades 6-8 during her 21 years at the middle school.

“Elm Street is an amazing community,” she said. “Middle school is a really special place and Elm Street is the center of it.”

English teacher Amy Keen remained optimistic about what lies ahead.

“We are very excited to open school on our last first day,” she said. “It’s a historic occasion.”

Keen also said many of her former students come back to visit to share their successes in high school and beyond.

“Elm Street is a special place in a lot of people’s hearts,” she said.