Brand-new Natomas school opens its doors to students. What makes it different

Tuesday at Northlake TK-8 in Natomas marked everyone’s first day of school.

Twin River Unified School District’s newest school welcomed 370 students and 45 new staff members to its recently constructed campus, which serves kids as young as 4 years old through middle school.

“It’s so exciting to have them actually walk through the gates,” Principal Stacey Firpo said. “We have an opportunity to meld together and build relationships from day one, and truly make this a special place.”

The school serves the kids of the burgeoning Northlake neighborhood in North Natomas, just under 5 miles from the Sacramento airport. Appropriately, the school has decided to brand its population as the Jets.

The school was designed to foster an age-appropriate STEAM education — science, technology, engineering, arts and math — for kids in every grade. Among the standard school facilities is a makerspace full of 3D printers and Cricut machines and other materials to make sure that science, math and art concepts are “truly integrated through every single day for every single grade,” in Firpo’s words.

Eighth-grader Akemi Hewing, who is scheduled to take 3D printing as her elective, said she could see herself building a personalized jewelry box with the technology, but she’s more interested in the adjoining podcasting studio. She listens to a lot of podcasts at home and wants to experiment with making her own.

Gail Godwin, a seventh-grader, is also excited about the new educational opportunities offered by a brand new campus and fresh learning environment.

“I’m not trying to brag or anything, but I think I am pretty smart, so I have been looking for something higher to work on,” Godwin said.

Road to Northlake

The endeavor to build a new school in the area commenced eight years ago and construction broke ground last year. But the growth is just beginning.

District officials estimate that the school’s population will double, if not triple over the next five years, and that it won’t be long before the school hits its capacity of 1100 students. The master-planned neighborhood has just put its second set of homes on the market, but construction and development in the area is likely to continue for several years as more housing and commercial spaces are built. Homes in the development are listed from $550,000 to $900,000.

Firpo left her position as principal of Garden Valley Elementary in the middle of last year in preparation of opening the new school. Many Northlake staff members have also transitioned from other Twin Rivers Unified schools, but Firpo said that the new team includes people from all over the state.

Unlike most other school facility projects across California, the new school was not funded by a bond. Chief Business Officer Ryan DiGiulio said that the district was able to allocate COVID-19 funds in a way that allowed them to move forward with the project in partnership with the neighborhood developer.

Firpo was happy to see that first day jitters seemed to dissipate quickly and that students were taking well to their new environment. Less than an hour into the school day, a classroom of kindergarten students very obediently copied their teacher as she led them through a game of Simon Says. Not one looked nervous in their brand new environment.