After nearly two years of busing to a foreign and cramped campus, Timpanogos Elementary School students will return to their own campus and brand-new building Monday.

The nearly 70-year-old elementary school was torn down in June 2007 to make way for a new building, with students sent to the Oakridge facility near Brigham Young University in the meantime. Teachers have been spending the last month preparing to move into the new school, packing between class, after school and on the weekends.

"It's been a challenge that we welcome," said Principal Diane Bridge.

Bridge said the transition teachers have been anticipating for more than a year will be a big benefit for students. The old building was still safe, but it did not work well as technology advanced further.

"Things as simple as not having enough electrical outlets in a room [were common problems]," she said.

Bridge said the school was not well-equipped for several computers in a classroom. Redesigning Timpanogos meant planning for advanced technology, like the new interactive whiteboards that will soon be installed. Six classrooms in the school will now also have one computer for every two students to share.

"It's an awesome task for them and it brings them up to the modern world," Bridge said.

Teachers have been trained to integrate technology into their lessons to help kids access the knowledge that is available, she said. Children will be able to learn better with more technology available to them, and Bridge said having the larger school for a growing population of children will only help.

"We had four portables before, so now we have space inside the building," she said.

The new school is three stories high, which allowed for a larger playground. Bridge said the size of the playground is important because cramped quarters can cause a lot of conflicts at recess. Greg Hudnall, director of student services for the Provo district, said the three-story design was an important component for Timpanogos. Designers needed to work with the small lot size in order for the school to remain at the location.

"In order for us to be there, we really needed to expand the playground," he said.

The tall building has also allowed for parking in the front of the building. The large parking lot makes parking and walking to school safer for students and teachers and it also serves as a buffer for road noise from 500 West.

"I was in last night with my son and I could not hear the traffic on 500 West," he said.

Hudnall said there were several reasons the district decided to rebuild the school, even though it was structurally safe. The floors creaked and a roof in part of the building had caved in a few years ago and the heating and cooling also did not work right.

"Parts of the building would be very warm, while other parts would be very cold," he said.

Hudnall said the cost to overhaul the building was not as cost-effective as rebuilding. The new facility has large windows for natural lighting, which among other measures will help lower energy costs.

Michele Sekaquaptewa, a first-grade teacher at Timpanogos, said the move back to the building has been a big project so far.

"It's been kind of stressful, but everybody's been really excited about it," she said.

The new school will be a fresh start, and worth the weeks of packing and moving. Sekaquaptewa said she looks forward to bigger classrooms and a lunchroom across the hall.

"We were pretty squished over there [at Oakridge], and we actually had to walk over to Wasatch [Elementary] every day to go to lunch," she said.

Teachers worked around the move by planning field trips and getting substitutes over the last week, but Sekaquaptewa said the students did not mind. Looking forward to the new building has been like Christmas morning for them.

"They're just really excited," she said. "They're totally oblivious to the stress."