STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — In September 2019, a bunch of Hayden residents testified to Hayden Town Council that it should save a building that meant a lot to them.

“I’ve grown up in that gym,” J.D. Case said. “Every sport I’ve ever played, I’ve been in that gym.”

Case was just 12 at the time, and many of the other residents were students in Hayden, some as young as 5. The building in question was the old high school. The year prior an effort had started to save the building and make it a community center, and while it was possible, there were many risks associated.

But it is these students that Hayden Town Manager Mathew Mendisco gives credit with convincing council to move forward with the plan.

“Little did they know, their voices would soon be the voices of the Hayden community and that they had convinced the Town Council and Board of Education to take those big risks and dream,” Medisco wrote in a news release Friday.

The town of Hayden officially closed on the purchase of the old Hayden High School on Dec. 17. Work to get the building ready to open will begin in the coming weeks, and the building should open early next year.

“We want to thank those brave young voices that had the courage to advocate for what they knew was right and convince a bunch of elected officials that ‘dreaming’ can make the world a better place,” Mendisco wrote.