Maple Mountain High, on the border of Mapleton and Spanish Fork, will open in fall 2009, while Landmark High, an alternative high school in Spanish Fork, will open in fall 2008.

Salem Hills High in Salem, where ground was broken in March 2006, also will open in fall 2008.

"This is not possible without the tremendous support of the patrons of Nebo School District," Superintendent Chris Sorensen said Wednesday at the Maple Mountain groundbreaking.

Nebo patrons approved a $140 million bond in 2004 to build 10 district schools, including the high schools.

One of the state's fastest-growing districts, Nebo now boasts more than 26,000 students and is growing by 1,000 more each year.

Congressman Chris Cannon, who lives in Mapleton, stopped by for the Maple Mountain ceremony, but the real guests of honor were four future students who were the first to don hard hats and churn dirt with gold-plated shovels.

"We will form a new brand of friendship with our rivals," 15-year-old John Sommerfeldt said of the school that will bring together Mapleton and Spanish Fork students. "It's like traveling on a path that hasn't been made before."

Maple Mountain's design, which will be almost identical to Salem Hills, will include three commons areas, a 1,700-seat field house and a 1,200-seat auditorium. It will house up to 1,500 students.

Landmark High will be two stories tall, but significantly smaller because it will serve only 500 students.

High schools also are under construction, or soon will be, in the high-growth Alpine and Washington County school districts.

Washington County School District officials broke ground on Desert Hills High in southwestern Utah last year and Alpine officials plan to break ground this spring on a high school in Saratoga Springs in northern Utah County.

A new Valley High, an alternative school, is under construction in Jordan School District, but district spokeswoman Melinda Colton said a new regular high school is sorely needed in the booming southwest end of Salt Lake County.

"We need one to relieve Riverton High desperately, somewhere in Bluffdale or Herriman," Colton said. "Riverton has 2,700 students; it's the largest school in the state. Everyone is just moving out there."

Other new Utah high schools include Stansbury High in Tooele County and a new Cedar Ridge High in Sevier County. A new Wasatch High is planned for Wasatch County, said Jane Zhang, an education specialist in the Utah State Office of Education.

Mapleton Mountain, Landmark and Salem Hills high schools will bring the total number of high schools in Nebo to six.

toddh@sltrib.com

Maple Mountain

* OPENING DATE: Fall 2009

* SIZE: 255,000 square feet

* STUDENT CAPACITY: 1,500

* MASCOT: Golden Eagle

Landmark

* OPENING DATE: Fall 2008

* SIZE: 52,000 square feet

* STUDENT CAPACITY: 500

* MASCOT: Dragon