LEXINGTON, Ky., Aug. 12, 2019 — The ribbon was cut today on the EOP-designed Brenda Cowan Elementary School, the Fayette County Public School’s newest and largest elementary school named in honor of the city’s first African American female firefighter and the country’s first female felled in the line of duty. The new school features light-filled corridors, bright colors and the latest in security technologies.
“Our goal was to make the school a place where kids want to be,” notes EOP Principal Paul Ochenkoski, AIA, the project’s principal-in-charge. “Being a part of something so symbolic to our firefighters is an amazing, humbling experience, and we only hope we honored Lieutenant Cowan in a respectful manner.”
The school will have the capacity to house more than 750 students, becoming the largest elementary school in the Fayette County system. Fittingly, the school’s mascot is the Dalmatian and has two Dalmatian puppies to serve as therapy dogs.
A city emergency manager who was working at the time of Lt. Cowan’s last call pointed out that the “children in the neighborhood where she lost her life will attend the elementary.” The school is taking that opportunity to provide a learning experience incorporating “service” as one of its four pillars for learning.