EGG HARBOR CITY - New Jersey Schools Development Authority (SDA) and Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District Board of Education officials held a ribbon-cutting today to formally open Cedar Creek High School, which will provide 21st century educational opportunities for nearly 1,100 students upon reaching full enrollment.

Students, parents, area officials and community leaders were on hand to celebrate the district’s newest – and Egg Harbor City’s only – high school. The old high school closed in 1960, with local students since attending the district’s two other high schools in Galloway (Absegami High School) and Mays Landing (Oakcrest High School).

The event acknowledged the contributions of Adam Pfeffer, the former district superintendent who worked for years to get the high school built. Pfeffer died earlier this year, and the school’s Performing Arts Center has been named in his memory.

District Superintendent Dr. Steven Ciccariello remarked, “The opening of Cedar Creek High School represents an important milestone in the 50-year history of the Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District. Cedar Creek High School is the third regional high school in the district, following Oakcrest High School, which opened in 1960, and Absegami High School, which opened in 1982. Cedar Creek High School is designed as both a hometown high school and a magnet school, and will draw students from across the entire district. It is a state-of-the-art, 21st century high school with a small-town appeal that will provide quality educational experiences for district students.”

Cedar Creek High School, located on a 66-acre campus on Moss Hill Road, opened its doors to 450 freshman and sophomore students on September 7. The new high school eventually will accommodate up to 1,092 students in grades 9-12, with one grade being added in each of the next two years.

The two-story, 190,400-square-foot Cedar Creek High School features 24 general classrooms, six science labs, three business classrooms, two health classrooms, three special education rooms, six resource rooms, a media center/library, a family/consumer science room, two music rooms, two art rooms, a dance room, a drama room, a technology room, an auditorium, music areas and a cafeteria. The facility also has a gymnasium, auxiliary gym, locker rooms and six athletic fields.

The project was designed by Faridy Veisz Fraytak, P.C. and built by Terminal Construction Corp. Greyhawk North America L.L.C. managed the project for the SDA.

Since its inception, the school construction program has completed 623 projects in SDA Districts. In addition to 55 new schools, it has provided funding for 46 extensive additions, renovations and/or rehabilitations; six demonstration projects and more than 500 other projects. Also, it has completed 25 projects in Regular Operating Districts: seven new schools and 18 extensive additions, renovations and/or rehabilitations.