By Claude D. McKinney
Gulf Region North
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Dahuk, Iraq - Within a community, the activities occurring in two specialized types of buildings hold great sway and influence for the residents of the community - they are schools and religious structures. Because of the influence a school can have on the current and future society, it is important to the reconstruction of Iraq to provide sound lasting facilities that will positively influence the future of this country for years to come.

The Kovak Primary School in the Dahuk District is one of those buildings. This 12-classroom school was newly constructed from the ground up. A year in the making, it is now complete and ready to house 36 teachers and about 825 students.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had contract over watch of this project.

“The Dohuk Resident Office has managed several different types of projects throughout Northern Iraq, but the school construction and renovations are special... they make you smile. I’ve never seen children so excited to go to school,” said Derek Walker, project engineer.

“You can see the future of not just the country, but perhaps the world, in the happiness of the faces of these children who long to enter them. I can honestly say I know we’ve made a difference in their lives,” he said.

Walker is no stranger to these efforts, he has aided in the renovation or construction of 30 schools, in Iraq. He is on his second deployment in two years.

In his normal, humble manner, Walker credited others for this success.

“I refuse to take credit for this completion as it has been a team effort, as all of our projects are. Without the support, oversight and coordination of our local Iraqi architect, and our quality control engineer, Tommie Lemons, the local government, and so many others, the experience would have been terribly difficult,” he said.

Now that the school construction is complete, it is expected students will arrive and attend class in September 2006.

Many schools in Iraq hold classes in two shifts each day. As the class sizes grow to meet the school’s capacity, this will surely be the case at this school.

Story from CENTCOM