SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. -- After eight years, $96 million and Wisconsin's largest-ever referendum, residents in Sun Prairie are getting their first glimpse at the city's new high school.

Many said they felt it was about time.

"This community, they put their money where their mouth is," said school district administrator Tim Culver. "And they get to see their investment begin."

Residents supported the nearly $100 million referendum to build the new Sun Prairie High School in 2007.

Three years later, they're showing their support again as they walk through the doors of the new school for the very first time.

Some officials described the school in three simple words: Space, light and technology.

Others were a bit more expansive in their praise.

"I don’t know how you could walk through this building and not feel the energy and be excited about what we’ve done here as a community," said school board president John Whalen.

"I am speechless," said Sun Prairie resident Jan Foval. "Really speechless."

Noting the school’s dedication to the arts, Foval continued, "I was an art major in college and this is every bit as great as where I studied. And I actually went to a school that had the No. 5 design school in the nation. So I'm very impressed."

Beyond the new arts facilities, the school includes a new swimming pool, a state-of-the-art auditorium, interactive whiteboards in every classroom and other technologies that students are already saying will give them a brand-new type of learning experience.

"The music students have a Steinway in the Performing Arts Center. There's like a million opportunities to bring the community and the students way more involved and be taking different pathways and learning all this stuff that they can do in their lives. I’m so excited," said Sun Prairie High School senior Katie Schlinder.

Most who toured the school over the weekend said that it's impossible to fully appreciate the facility without seeing it firsthand.

School officials said that the grand opening is just the beginning of the project.

"The more important work is opening the doors of kids' futures," said Culver. "And that's what this facility is all about."

In addition to the historic referendum, the new Sun Prairie High School benefited from many private contributions.

Every classroom, scoreboard and courtyard at the school are named after residents who donated, WISC-TV reported.