GULF SHORES — Like a sandbar just off the Gulf shore line that moves and shifts, made by the waves and surrounding ecosystem, the physical classrooms move and shift, made by the teachers and hands-on lesson plans.

And like the larger ecosystem enveloping the sandbar that remains sturdy and steadfast amid time and evolution, the island's newest high school was built to remain, to evolve as time and growth press its needs.

After months of small-group tours and preparation, Gulf Shores High School students began class on their new campus Wednesday, Aug. 12, a $150 million, 287,000-square-foot building constructed from scratch on a 200-acre site alongside the Foley Beach Express north of the Intracoastal Waterway.

The story of the new school began long before crews broke ground in April 2024 to start burying 1,800-plus pilings into the subsurface. It began even before Gulf Shores and the school board's first meeting in December 2020. If you look back to the beginning, you'll mark the donation of the land by Robert Craft and his family — before he became mayor — as a seed in what has now bloomed into the community's "forever school."

When the Crafts donated 80 acres, the city bought 120 adjoining it, and Craft told Gulf Coast Media on Monday that they hoped it would be used for either education or medical advancement in the city.

"We were thinking high school or hospital. The evolution got us to high school first," he said.

The Gulf Shores mayor rode his bicycle to Foley High School as a teenager and sent his two children to Foley and Bayside before the original Gulf Shores High School existed.

"It takes years, it takes commitment, and it takes continuation from one elected group to the next. '08 was when this group was elected. That's five elections from here. And we've all been on the same team," he said. "... But it takes a long time, and it takes continuous passion."

Along the way, plenty of people helped the dream come to fruition, but two names at the top of the list can be seen on three campus buildings.

Dr. E. Gaylon McCollough, a local plastic surgeon and former All-American football player, and his wife, Susan, a lifelong artist and supporter of the arts, were honored with the naming of the Fine Arts Center, Health Professions Center and Performing Arts and Sports Concourse in recognition of their gift to the school.

“Susan and I moved to Gulf Shores 27 years ago and quickly became aware of the educational, healthcare, creative and performing arts and athletic potentials of this community — just waiting to transition from dreams to realities," Gaylon McCollough said.

Since then, he said, with the leadership of many whom he named during a speech before a ribbon-cutting on Monday, Aug. 10, to an auditorium full of teachers, parents, community members and leaders, "the educational standards — and therefore the culture and image of our community — have taken a giant leap forward and upward. Students at every level and from all walks of life are better prepared to become even better citizens and leaders, and, by doing so, fulfill the expectations that they will be called upon to bring to fruition."

Now, the senior class of 2027 will follow the last group from the old campus that earned $61 million in scholarships, around $40 million more than the class before them. The numbers speak to a vision proposed by the group of parents and community members who approached now school board president Kevin Corcoran in 2015 with the idea to split from Baldwin County Public Schools and launch their own city school district.

Academics first, facilities second, they said.

The new school is a place "where students can leave with more than a diploma," Corcoran said on Monday. "They can leave with direction."

Overall, the school features 28 classrooms, 11 collaborative flex spaces, six science labs, a media center with a maker space and video production studio in place of a traditional school library and "The Sandbar," a central gathering space for students in place of a traditional cafeteria. It also houses a 753-seat performing arts center, covered outdoor practice field and a separate athletics and NJROTC wing.

Academics first, then facilities. The new school will host expanded space for popular classes like the culinary program and robotics. Last year, they had to turn culinary students away, Assistant Vice Principal Cameron Koehler said during a tour to Craft Farms residents before the public assembly and ribbon-cutting Monday. Now, local chef Jonathan Kastner is teaching there full-time with dozens of students in the school's state-of-the-art kitchen. Other students will be learning from Austral USA to help build U.S. Navy subs. Others yet will end the school year with a scuba diving certification or behind the navigation system of an airplane they built.

"We dreamed big," Craft told GCM on Monday. "It took a long time to get here; it took a lot of money to get here. We were fortunate to have opportunities to raise the money to do this, and we're going to make a difference for everyone in the city."

The new building will hold upwards of 2,000 students, well above the previous campus’s capacity of about 900.