The commander of Naval Base Guam, Capt. John Fry, left, and other officials tour a new annex for William C. McCool Elementary Middle School, Dec. 12, 2024. (U.S. Navy)

Department of Defense Education Activity has opened an annex to its middle school at Naval Base Guam to accommodate the growing student population.

The annex at William C. McCool Elementary Middle School debuted Thursday with a formal ceremony, according to a Facebook post by the base that day.

Seventh- and eighth-grade classrooms will move to the annex during the summer break in time for the 2025-26 school year, the post said.

“We are thrilled to open this space for our upper middle school students at McCool,” Lois Rapp, DODEA Pacific director for student excellence, said in a DODEA news release Dec. 3.

The annex was previously a dental facility. With the renovations it has additional classrooms, a science lab area and flexible learning spaces, according to the release.

Neither the Navy’s post nor DODEA’s release listed a cost for the renovation.

A contact for the Navy-funded project was awarded in July 2022, and the work was completed in October, Department of Defense Education Activity-Pacific spokeswoman Miranda Ferguson said by email Wednesday. The annex was designed to support an additional 120 students.

“Enrollment at McCool Elementary Middle School has remained relatively steady for the past five years; however, the student population is projected to increase,” she wrote.

On Aug. 29, 2003, the school was renamed for Navy Cmdr. William Cameron “Willie” McCool, a NASA astronaut and pilot aboard the space shuttle Columbia whose crew was killed when it disintegrated during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

The school has more than 800 students ranging from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade.

“This project has been a true partnership, with full support from military leaders,” Rapp said in the release.