A student-produced documentary, styled like the popular home improvement show “This Old House,” premiered on YouTube in 2025. It chronicles the restoration of the historic Opaline Schoolhouse, located on the east side of Albertsons Stadium. The building, moved to campus in the 1980s, served as a classroom for students in Owyhee County for nearly four decades.
Nathan Snyder, Boise State media lecturer and director of University Television Productions, led the documentary project. He described it as a unique collaboration among students, university staff and facilities managers, commercial contractors and community members.
While working on “Restoring Opaline: A Historic Schoolhouse and a Lesson in Documentary Production,” students documented and interviewed the crews as they repainted, repaired windows and replaced the roof and siding. Highlights in the film include an interview with 104-year-old Dorothy Vauk, who taught at the Opaline School in the 1940s. She recalled teaching the children of workers in the Civilian Conservation Corps—a New Deal program during the Great Depression.
“We have history in this country,” Snyder said. “You don’t have to go to Europe to find it. Hopefully, we can echo that history.”
Campus Operations funded the restoration. “I thought we needed to do something with this awesome building,” said Drew Alexander, associate vice president of the department. “We can showcase our work on campus while elevating the importance of history.”
The schoolhouse, which has sat vacant for years, will become an event space—potentially for receptions after weddings at nearby, and equally historic, Christ Chapel. It will become a meeting spot for football tailgating. “It is a prime location,” said Barb Beagles, facilities executive director. “You can see the Jumbotron and be front and center.”
But how did the Opaline Schoolhouse end up on campus?
Built near Marsing, Idaho, the school opened in 1914 to educate 13 seventh- and eighth-graders. It operated until the 1950s, when the Opaline Water Board began using it for meetings and storage. In the 1980s, Boise State President John Keiser sought a historic school building to mark the university’s 50th anniversary. The water board donated the schoolhouse. Members of the Idaho Air National Guard helped move it to campus.