The new $72 million Gungahlin College has its first Principal - Gai Beecher, formerly the Principal of Campbell High.

The college and adjoining shared college-community library are rapidly taking shape, and Gungahlin residents are getting an insight into what an amazing facility it will be for our town centre.

The college will open for Grade 11 students at the beginning of 2011, and already the enrolments have been overwhelming. So it's great to have the principal in place, so that she can start putting together the management and teaching teams.

Gungahlin Community Council President Alan Kerlin was the community representative on the Selection Panel for the position, together with the head of ACT Education Dr Jim Watterson, plus the principals of three other ACT colleges, and Majura Primary.

"GCC has been involved with the design of the college and indeed the whole precinct since day one, and on through numerous Design Working Group meetings," said Alan Kerlin. "It's been incredibly important to us that the campus embody the leading edge of both teaching and environmental design.

"When our children grow up in an environment created around the idea of sustainability, it will become part of the normal way they go about life.

"It's been a great pleasure for me to go through the principal selection process and see the candidates start to delve further into what has gone into the design of the college, and then the realisation of what an amazing facility they could end up leading.

"Gai Beecher was the stand-out applicant for the role, and we look forward to working with her to promote the college and help bind it with our growing community."

GCC has also been lobbying to ensure that the college curriculum ties in with the local universities, to ensure students have a strong education and career path that allows them to stay in Canberra if they wish. We believe that our children can better succeed at their studies if they can stay at home rather than the distraction of working to pay rent while studying away from home.