The new school year will begin next week in Utah County, and thousands of students will be entering brand new school buildings.

Districts in the valley have been growing rapidly, and new schools have opened almost every year. Rhonda Bromley, Alpine District spokeswoman, said another high school is planned to open next year for the district's 60,000 students.

"We've tried to forecast so we've tried to stay one step ahead," she said.

Landmark High students in Spanish Fork will be in a new building this year as well, and the old Grandview Elementary building will also house the new Center for Accelerated Study. The center will serve gifted and talented students who may not be as challenged in other schools. Greg Hudnall, director of student services in Provo, said long-term plans for the building are not definite, but officials are committed to providing an intense learning environment for gifted students.

"It's a long-term commitment by our school board and superintendent," he said.

Along with new buildings, students will also have the chance to work with new technology in several of the new schools. At Timpanogos, which will be open in October, new interactive whiteboards were installed in classrooms. The Promethean Activboard is connected to a computer and projector in order to achieve more student interaction.

"The whole board becomes the computer screen," said Ted Kelly, director of special education, Title I and technology for Provo School District.

Kelly said the technology is not new, but more mature. Installing advanced technology in the schools will help teachers to instruct computer-savvy students without dumbing down the information.

"The crux is, with public education students, technology is natural to their generation," he said.

The Activboards also will be in use at Salem Hills High, where Principal Ann Anderson said the ability to write on the boards with a finger will be useful in math and science classrooms. Anderson said school administrators want to help prepare students for collegiate studies and research with the technology, and the whiteboards will benefit teachers with the ease of teaching through the Internet.

"It makes a more exciting, cohesive learning environment," she said.

Salem Hills will also be a unique school because of its fight song. When new students sing "Skyhawks fight, Skyhawks fight" each Friday, it will be to the tune of Marshall University's fight song.

"It's never been given out to another school, ever," she said.

Assistant Principal Brenda Burr said faculty members were impressed by the loyalty at Marshall University and decided to ask to use their fight song, which is not in the public domain. Marshall University represents beginning, as the school started over after the Civil War and after the football team was killed in a plane crash.

"The intense loyalty is the loyalty that we wanted to develop at our school," she said.