I would like to commend Melissa Steele for her recent articles in the Cape Gazette on Cape Henlopen High School being chosen by the distinguished Architectural Digest as the most beautiful high school in Delaware.
I both called Melissa and sent her a recent email documenting the background story as to how the design of the high school came about.
After the referendum was approved by the local taxpayers, the Cape Henlopen school board had a meeting with the architectural firm BSA+A to talk through what kind of design we (the school board) wanted for the new high school.
Buck Simpers and his staff did a wonderful job in following our board's request that we wanted the school to have the classical look of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello...that is, a rotunda, porticos and Greek columns.
Buck and his staff took our request and came up with the design that you see today, and evidently it was that request that won the AD award.
These things do not happen by accident and each of these requests were add alternates and cost a bit more money....and several in the community argued against them as too expensive and unnecessary, but their negativity did not prevail.
I am exceedingly proud of the work done by both BSA+A and EDiS (the builders) but I am also proud of the work of our 2005-10 Cape Henlopen School Board for its time, effort and foresight to set the standard for excellence that others now see as "the most beautiful high school in DE!"
Dr. Gary D. Wray
Cape Henlopen School Board
2005-10
vice president and president
2005-08