Mills Park Middle School, at 441 Mills Park Drive, which is off Green Level Church Road, is welcoming its first class of students and teachers on the county's first day of school.

The Wake County Public School System has opened three other schools this year.

Two are in Western Wake County - a sign of continued growth in the region.

Alston Ridge, a year-round elementary school on Green Level Church Road in Cary, opened last month.

So did Holly Grove Middle in Holly Springs.

Eleven of the 26 schools opened in the county since 2006 are in western Wake County.

Mills Park's three-story building will hold 1,025 students in the 2010-11 school year.

The 197,071 square-foot building is on a 35-acre site adjacent to Mills Park Elementary.

The school's got an official mascot - the leopard - and boys and girls can try out for the full range of middle school sports teams.

Students can also choose one elective each semester. Courses offered include band, visual art, dance and technology.

Wake County schools were able to purchase the property for the school at a reduced rate through an interlocal agreement with the town of Cary.

A joint use agreement with the Cary parks and recreation department helped bring upgrades to the school's athletic fields.

The traditional calendar school was built as part of a $970 million capital improvement program approved by county voters in 2006.

The school held a ribbon cutting last week with Cary leaders and school officials. Mills Park students led tours through the building.

The school was designed by Skinner Lamm & Highsmith and constructed by D.H. Griffin Construction Company.