This is what the main entrance to the replacement high school in Joplin. It was converted from an old Venture store.

A note and some pictures from my sister, who lives in Joplin:

We drove the new high school last Thurs.

It happened to be open so we went in to investigate.

It turned out we were crashing Gov. Nixon’s press conference. He had not arrived yet, so we decided to look around.

We were quite impressed with everything. Apparently the kids are each going to be given a laptop and will have no books.

No lockers in sight in this view of the inside of Joplin's fall 2011 high school.

There are no lockers because of this.

I don’t know where everyone is supposed to put their coats but I guess they have a couple of months to figure that out.

The name of Joplin High School's mascot--the Eagles--covers a wall inside, along with a drawing of a fiece raptor.

Nixon was there to share with us that the state was going to make up the $1.5 million the schools will not receive because of tornado damage. It’s to compensate the school district for the taxes they are going to lose because of fewer businesses and homes owners paying their taxes.

It’s nice to be on the receiving end for once.

Future Joplin High School stars stand in front of the mascot Eagle head.

The high school is now in the old Venture or Shopco building in our mall.

It really is amazing that it has been converted into a state of the art school.

There are also a couple of modular units outside. I think these may be for science.

Joplin High School after tornado destruction.

Also there are quite a few tornado shelters in the parking lot. I need to take a pic of those.