NEW BERLIN – While the New Berlin and South New Berlin school districts officially merged in July of 1996, more than six years would pass before the process would feel complete. The Unadilla Valley Central School District last week celebrated 10 years since a Jan. 7, 2003 ribbon-cutting ceremony welcomed students, faculty and staff to the district’s new school building.

According to school officials, the move marked the first time the entire district shared one roof. Said Donna Taylor, district superintendent secretary at the time and a position she still holds today, “The building definitely brought the community together. It was the missing piece. ... We were heading in that direction, but it just made it real. Whether you were from New Berlin or South New Berlin, we were UV at that time.”

On Monday, students and staff paused to reflect on the decade that has passed and just what, exactly, the school means to the community. Superintendent Robert Mackey ­– following classes on Monday – met with teachers to discuss their own, personal memories of the new building. Many laughed, he said, as they related how cold the new building was at first and how much brighter it now seemed. Said high school English teacher Suzanne Cleveland, “The school is so much more beautiful and amazing than where we came from.”

In addition, Mackey asked teachers to consider an annual, Jan. 7 ceremony to honor the building’s opening. “It was a pretty significant day for the community,” stated Mackey. “It would be fitting that it become an important day every year going forward. It should be a day that is celebrated.”

The district is also considering the creation of a rededication committee, one that will prepare for a 10th anniversary ceremony and possible alumni dinner to be held the weekend of May 3, 2013. At the original dedication ceremony, reported Mackey, then-Board of Education President William Lyons called the new building a product of imaginative thinking by the community and a school district focused on the importance of education.

“This is truly a school district where people make the difference,” said Lyons at the time. “This facility proves that people with positive attitudes, willing to work together toward a common goal, can accomplish anything. this building symbolizes the limitless opportunities for our children that this community can provide by continuing to work together.”

Margot Brooks, Student Council president at the time, was impressed by the building when she first saw it in 2003. Ten years later, Brooks said, “Now, as I walk through the hallways every day, I am still impressed by all that this new building has to offer. The classrooms and hallways are big and bright, and being in them gives me a feeling of pride.”

According to a UVCSD press release, construction of the new building began in 2001 and continued throughout 2002. Current building principal Frank Johnson, a physical education teacher and athletic coordinator for the district at the time, remembered the cold, and that only 85 percent of the building was completed.