Written by Caleb Herbert, Felicia Keg, and Zoey Matheson
You’ve likely seen it if you’ve been around Minarets recently, a large, unknown development that has been springing up since around the end of the 22-23 school year and over the summer. Now that we’re back in school, the progress that has been made on this development is difficult to ignore.
Upon turning onto Road 200, one will immediately notice a strange artistic piece, one that appears to be a rustic horse-drawn carriage. On the back of this carriage are two words spray-painted onto its side facing the road, “Minarets Crossing”.
Behind this quaint sculpture, one will surely notice a grand structure that has been built ahead of all the others, a large red barn that doesn’t appear to have an affiliation with any particular companies. One would be forgiven to find this strange, as a building this late in its developmental process should have ideally been claimed by now.
The entirety of this development is covered in as much strewn about construction
pieces all over the property in the form of buffalo and cacti and other frontier-themed forms.
Despite the amount of progress that has been made on this development, there remains a rather unusual enigma; it’s not obvious what exactly is being built at this “Minarets Crossing”. In fact, I found it particularly difficult to uncover any information about the development. There are no signs indicating what is being built, no companies establishing a claim over any of the present buildings. We had no choice but to try to find out information on the development for ourselves.
Luckily, it turned out that two of our very own Minarets staff members, Ms. Hall and our principal Ms. Corippo, were looking into the development as well. We contacted them, and they provided us with a lot of information regarding the Minarets Crossing development. We were able to interview Ms. Hall over email. This interview is shown below:
How is the school getting involved with the minarets crossing? “We are hoping to provide work experience for students, and we are especially looking at how HorsePower Coffee could get involved.“
When do you think the work experience plan will be in action if ever? “We are hoping to have a work experience program set up this school year, but since they are still building I would say we still have a while.”
We have also gained some information from Mrs. Corippo to our question regarding buildings and business information as well. She answered, over email, “Dog grooming and real estate within 2-3 months. Food court 4 months. Work experience when the food court opens. Possibly help sooner at dog grooming and real estate offices.” This gives us a lot of information on what is coming for the project as most had no clue of the possibility of a dog groomer being in such a new and small area of O’Neals. Mrs. Corippo answered another question of ours about how our school might get involved with Minarets Crossing. She said, “I will continue to meet with the developer and business owners at Minarets Crossing. In our first meeting, we determined that students will be needed and accepted as work experience students at Minarets Crossing.
We also spoke about displaying student art and metalwork for sale in the Red Barn.” This is great news for students who need a source of employment for work experience. The opening of many businesses will benefit many students for job opportunities. As for the students who may want to earn money by selling art, the option to display their artwork for sale in the Red Barn is another great way for students to be involved with Minarets Crossing. The last question we asked Mrs. Corippo was if she knew what businesses are going to be built there on top of a possible coffee business with work experience students incorporated into it. She replied saying, “In the red barn, initial plans include a food court like setting with Mexican food, and poke bowls. The other building is planning on an “urban market” with grab and go chicken, burritos and deli sandwiches.”
Clearly, Minarets Crossing is an up-and-coming development to be excited for. The many opportunities for students reportedly present at the development are sure to be very attractive and beneficial to our school. But since the development is a few months away from relative completion, all we can do is wait and hope that Minarets Crossing is all we hope it can be and more.
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