MENASHA, Wis. (WFRV) – With the 2024-25 academic calendar past its midpoint, officials from the Menasha Joint School District are eagerly anticipating the opening of the new Maplewood Middle School this fall. Miron Construction, the company responsible for the project, is on track to complete the school by the end of the summer. What sets this school apart is its incorporation of multiple eco-friendly, green technologies, making it one of the first of its kind. Sustainably Speaking: Exploring Miron Construction’s Sustainable Journey "We have a geothermal well system that has 160 wells in it that are 500 feet deep. On top of that, we are also incorporating solar PV on the roof and a battery backup and then a smart grid to tie it all together," said Brian Adesso, the Menasha Joint School District’s director of business services. Adesso emphasized that taxpayer dollars are not being used to fund the project. Instead, the district will receive a payment from the U.S. Treasury through a grant from the Inflation Reduction Act. In addition to the green technologies, the school will operate entirely without natural gas, making it a fully electric-powered building. This initiative is part of the district's comprehensive plan to reduce energy usage citywide over the past decade, aiming to save taxpayer dollars. Adesso and district leaders also plan to use the new school as an educational tool to teach students about its green features. Sustainably Speaking: New solar array coming to Dramm Corporation in Algoma "We hope to utilize the different green technologies to teach our students. We will have a dashboard that students can look at and see how the different technologies are being utilized so they will be able to see on cloudy days how the solar PV is holding up, they'll see how the geothermal works and how the earth can be used as a battery," Adesso explained. The school district continues to provide updates on the school's construction progress on its website.