It’s the final steel beam of the of the new two-story classroom at East Union High.

With it are the signatures of students and administrators of the school coupled with district officials of the Manteca Unified School District.

“The beam with all the signatures will be exposed for all to see (once completed),” said MUSD Director of Facilities Aaron Bowers of the $49 million structure that’s currently under construction. “We did the same (exposed signatures on the beam) at the EU wood shop building and the new Manteca High gym.”

The ‘Sign the Beam’ event, which was held Friday and will continue on Monday next to the school library, will allow those involved to leave their mark.

“For me and everybody here, this is a once in a lifetime event,” said sophomore Kirk Simoni, who will be a senior when the building with 31 classrooms and media center finally opens.

The completion is targeted for August 2025.

The framework of the two-story building went up earlier this week with the final beam – signatures and all – scheduled to be put in place on Wednesday.

This modernization project is being made possible by the $260 million Measure A, which includes other projects throughout the district from the 2020 voter-approved bonds.

As for EU, the 57-year-old campus will also be getting a new small gym along a weight room and an indoor P.E. facility to accommodate wrestling and aerobics. The existing small gym will later be demolished, according to the plan.