Oxford Virtual Academy (OVA) officially unveiled its new elementary center at a grand opening event Thursday, Oct. 20.

With over 50 parents, students and administrators in attendance, school officials showed off the new 3,700 square-foot space, which first opened September 6 and is located at 168 S Washington St. in the Oxford Marketplace Shopping Center.

The center, which can accomodate up to 32 students at a time, aims to work in collaboration with OVA’s online program to give K-7 students a well-rounded learning experience.

While OVA has been a K-12 program since 2013, this is the first learning center specifically aimed towards elementary-aged students.

The cost of the project totaled at approximately $371,000, according to Oxford Schools Assistant Superintendent of Business and Operations Sam Barna.

Until September, OVA had only one learning center to provide an in-person learning experience to students, located at 176 S Washington St. in the Oxford Marketplace Shopping Center.

According to Hulbert, the new space will give elementary-aged OVA students greater educational possibilities.

“We had a wonderful space, but we saw kids in middle school and high school coming in… but because of the age difference, we didn’t see very many elementary aged kids coming in. We knew if we built something like this (we could offer even more) hands-on learning for the little guys so that they aren’t on a computer all day,” said Hulbert.

Unlike many online programs, OVA strives to maintain a balance between online and hands-on learning, according to Hulbert. The center features three private rooms, known as “break-out rooms,” which offer learning resources for one-on-one and small group learning sessions. It also features 32 Google Chromebook laptops for students to use.

A total of four elementary teachers work in rotation to give OVA elementary students the help they need at the new center.

“That’s part of what we tried to build here to ensure the kids could have a space (where) they can do labs and they can do real, hands-on activities… I know our teachers are going to have a great opportunity to reach out to kids in our break-out rooms,” Hulbert said.

For open drop-in, the elementary center is opened Monday and Thursday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. It is also open Wednesdays from noon to 4 p.m. and Fridays 9 a.m. to noon.