On a steamy summer day in 1942, 11-year-old Clarence Rutt Jr. helped his father clear tangles of briars, weeds and shrubs from the former Yeates School property in East Lampeter Township.

The Rutts were among a group of volunteers clearing the overgrowth so the school buildings, which had been closed for years, could serve as the new Lancaster Mennonite High School.

The school opened that fall with 151 students.

In three weeks, Rutt will be back on the Lancaster Mennonite campus, which has changed dramatically over the last 66 years.

This time, he'll be celebrating what has sprung up where the tangled brush once stood — a $9.3 million academic center that he and other Rutt family members helped pay for.

The four Rutt brothers and three sisters donated more than $3 million for the building, which has been named Rutt Academic Center.

Clarence and his brother, John, said the donation honors their parents and the sacrifices they made to send their seven children to Lancaster Mennonite.

In addition to the two brothers, Mary, Glenn, Barbara, Joyce and Carl Rutt all graduated from LMS.

Paying the tuition for the seven siblings was no easy task for their father, Clarence Sr., a tractor mechanic and salesman, and his homemaker wife, Elva.

"They struggled and skimped and saved to send us," Clarence Jr. said. "It was a struggle."

Their Mennonite education served them well, he said.

Clarence Jr., John and Carl went on to earn their medical degrees, Barbara worked as a nurse, Joyce is a social worker, Glenn is a retired insurance executive and Mary is a homemaker.

"I treasured that experience," Clarence Jr. said of his high school years. "I think we all thought it was a rewarding experience."

Almost since the day Lancaster Mennonite opened, a Rutt family member has had a hand in its operation.

Clarence Sr. served on the school board from 1956 to 1969 and worked as the school's maintenance man in the 1970s.

John has been a board member for the past 35 years, 32 of them as treasurer, and Clarence Jr. served as president of the alumni board.

In addition, several Rutt family members, including Clarence Jr.'s daughter and brother-in-law, have taught at LMHS.

Donating money for the academic building "is a way of giving back what we received from the school," Clarence Jr. said.

"It was a very needed building on campus, and we thought it was a good way to honor our parents."

The new center houses six math, five science and two business education classrooms and two family and consumer science rooms, each equipped with six kitchens.

Every classroom has motion sensors so lights and heating/cooling systems automatically shut off when the rooms are not in use.

The roof is wrapped in heat-reflecting material to improve cooling efficiency, and one section has been planted with vegetation to improve insulation, control storm-water runoff and serve as a living laboratory for science experiments.

The building uses natural sunlight, radiant heat and a geothermal climate-control system to cut energy costs and features natural slate flooring, recycled floor tiles and other materials designed to minimize its impact on the environment.

The new classrooms will replace science rooms that have changed little since 1964 and cramped math and consumer science classrooms in 60-year-old Graybill Hall.

In addition to more elbow room, the new classrooms will have advanced teaching tools, including computers, computerized white boards and video projectors.

John Rutt said his father, a natural tinkerer, would be "fascinated and pleased" with the high-tech features.

Students were scheduled to begin attending classes in Rutt Center today, and an official dedication is planned for Dec. 21.

Clarence Jr. said he's happy with how the building turned out — and with how far Lancaster Mennonite has come since he helped prepare the school for its first students generations ago.

All but one of the original red-brick Yeates School buildings have been replaced with modern facilities, and the school is part of a four-campus system that serves 1,511 students from pre-kindergarten to grade 12.

"There are 1,500 students in this system … and I'm sure this building will serve them very well for many years to come," he said of the academic center.

"I think my parents would be very pleased."

E-mail: bwallace@lnpnews.com