Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of summer... and a countdown to the first day of school.

Reporter Amber Schatz shows us three schools getting a final upgrade before fall.

(NATS DRILLING) (Nathan Todd/Laborer) 53:03 "I worked here last summer pouring footings and foundations

It's a building that this worker knows well

(Todd) 53:20 "We are screwing Z metal on, and putting in foam so we can start siding." Nathan Todd just graduated from Bismarck High School... One year too late to learn in the Career Academy... before he heads to NDSU

54:32 "Yah I've got a couple friends that will be seniors now and will be juniors that have told me they'll come up here and take some classes, I had a teacher Mr. Philips that will be up here, a lot of tech teachers are excited." Technical classes are just a part of this partnership between Bismarck State College and Bismarck public schools

(Darin Scherr/Bismarck Public Schools) 45:04 "You can look in the classrooms when you're in the hallway, when you're in that building you can see what's happening inside a lot of the spaces." In the final phases now... The Career Academy won't be the only new school "on the block" this fall

(Scherr/Director of Facilities and Transportation) 47:38 "We never envisioned we'd have two going up at the same time, and funding worked out as such and the schedule, it was just an opportune time, we had really good construction prices..." 12 million there..

12 million here

(Standup) Teachers and students will soon fill Sunrise Elementary... and what's starting to look like the gym

(Scherr) 45:39 "We like our classrooms to have windows so we were able to do was actually we were able to put skylights in and some windows into the hallway, we'll actually have natural lighting so that's good, so there isn't really a bad seat in the house, in either building." This will be the newest elementary school to go up since the late 80s

But an older one is also getting a facelift

(NATS) Last summer Myhre teachers got doors and walls to the classrooms

This summer... Phase two... a new library media center and specialist offices

(Scherr) 47:02 "When you walk in already it's just a huge difference, it's a lot quieter and just seems like a better learning environment." The ultimate goal for all three projects

(Scherr) 48:57 "Anytime you can open a new building, I think it shows growth in your community, and just an exciting, they'll be excited cuz it's a new building and new space they can call home." Until then... workers like Nathan continue to hammer away

(Nathan Todd/Laborer)53:41 "It'll make it so I know what it's like out here if I become an engineer I know the real world problems when I have to draw stuff inside." Lessons learned here, already

Amber Schatz, KX News

Both the Career Academy and Sunrise Elementary have energy- efficient geothermal heating and cooling.

The two new buildings cost 24 million dollars.

Updates at Myhre run at 750-thousand... Federal stimulus dollars. watch the video | save this article / add to your favorites list