The Board of Education recently voted to approve a two-story lecture hall addition to West Haven High School that will be named in honor of former principal Pamela Gardner.

The “Pamela Bellmore Gardner Memorial Lecture Hall” will be 3,800 square feet and have 120 seats; five of the seats are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and easily accessible. The project is expected to cost about $2.2 million. Construction will hopefully take two years to complete, Principal Dana Paredes said, adding that the starting date for construction is still being determined. 

Funds from the new high school construction project will be used for the lecture hall, since the initial construction plans came in under budget, Mrs. Paredes said. The new addition will be where the old auditorium was–now near the new back entrance.

Mrs. Gardner was a 1987 graduate of our school and became its principal in 2009. She died in 2018 after a long battle with a rare form of cancer.

“Pam really envisioned this lecture hall that would kind of be a community space,” Mrs. Paredes said. The lecture hall would be able to be booked by anyone for guest speakers or hosting different community events.

“The only thing I can say is that I wish Pam were here to see it,” Mrs. Paredes said.