“Topping Out” ceremony celebrates construction milestone at Rocky Vista High School

The construction of 27J Schools new high school in Commerce City took a significant step in recent weeks.

“The topping out ceremony is a major milestone. The highest point of the building is complete, we’re swinging the final steel,” said Brian Carrius, Project Manager at Adolfson & Peterson Construction, school general contractor.

Construction workers gathered on site with district and local representatives Jan. 20 to mark the occasion. Guests signed a beam that was then raised along with the final piece of steel, and both were put into place.

 First Principal Named for Rocky Vista High School

For Carrius, it feels a little familiar. He was also the project manager on construction of the STEM and Career and Technical Education Center at Prairie View High School, which opened in fall 2023. He says it’s been a great experience working with 27J Schools again. 

“We had not worked with the district in quite some time. We built the original Prairie View High School more than 15 years ago. The CTE center we did behind it was probably the first project we did in the district since then. It’s nice to have been involved in the whole campus there.”

Carrius says working on school building projects makes him proud, especially knowing the buildings will be used to help some students pursue careers in the trades. Like 27J’s other high schools, Rocky Vista will have a STEM and CTE component, with an entire wing dedicated to those classes. 

“These high schools that have that CTE element show students there’s another route,” he said. “We take pride in that. We have a lot of high school internships, we even hire a lot of kids that come out of the high schools we build. Starting those relationships early on with the district is great too because we can help with internships and help find those kids find jobs later in life.”

While guests toured the inside of the building following the ceremony, Carrius is quick to add the new high school site also has a lot going on outside.

“We’ve got a lot of site work going on. Three different [athletic ] fields, tennis courts, a football stadium. So you kind of get a little bit of everything here, not only with the building, but the site work on 50 acres. It’s a large project. It takes some time but it's a fun one.”

Rocky Vista High School is expected to open to students in fall 2027. 

Sign up here to get monthly construction updates on Rocky Vista High School delivered right to your inbox.