AUBURN – Thursday night, Noah Breau, 7, led his parents to his new classroom at the Park Avenue school.

“Wow. This is a nice room,” his mother said.

“It’s huge. It’s a big improvement,” said Susan Breau. “Nothing against Lake Street.”

“No, I loved Lake Street,” chimed in Noah’s teacher, Sonia Finnegan.

“But this is big. There’s more room for kids. It’s brighter,” Breau said.

Her husband, Andrew, also approved. “It’s a good thing.”

He said the new building was worth the $10.4 million it cost. “I work in construction. The costs of materials have skyrocketed the last few years.”

People of all ages, many smiling, filled the school Thursday night taking a first look inside. Visitors were all ages: toddlers to seniors, teens to middle age.

Principal Vickie Gaylord estimated about 500 attended the open house, which began at 6 p.m. By 6:15 the parking lot was full. Cars were parked on the sides of Park Avenue.

In the cafeteria, Paige Weber, 10, a fifth-grader, sat at a new table.

She said she liked the new school “a lot. Having one school that has kindergarten through six, and not just split in half, is cool. Because I can see most of my friends here.”

“It’s way bigger than any of the other schools,” agreed her friend, Erica Hazelton, 10. “The halls look the same so I’m going to get dizzy.”

Her mother, Sandy Hazelton, said she was excited for the new opportunities students will have. “The gymnasium. The nice cafeteria. The playground is amazing. And just the bright sunny classrooms. The space. Everything.”

With three children in Auburn schools, Hazelton said she’s delighted that two will go to the same school. “I would have had one at Lake Street, one at Webster and one at the middle school.”

Down the hall in the gymnasium, senior citizens Albert and Diane Chouinard walked in and looked over the glistening wood.

“It’s beautiful,” he said.

“Very nice,” she said. “We don’t have any children coming here. We just wanted to come and see. I had a son who went to the old Lake Street School,” she said.

“We wanted to see where our money went,” he said, adding he was “very impressed.”

In the lower level, teacher Jim Raymond showed off his music room, saying more space means more opportunities for students. Not having to move instruments from room to room, more will be able to play. “Last year I could only carry two drums room to room.”

On the upper floor, sisters Alice Read, 16, and Hannah Read, 18, said they were excited about the school.

A recent Edward Little graduate and now a college student in Connecticut, Hannah said she volunteered at Lake Street for the past two years. “This is fantastic,” she said. “I loved Lake Street as a small, close-knit community. But this is a much needed improvement.”

She was impressed with the smart boards in classrooms, media rooms and broader access students have to computers. “Getting kids interested in technology earlier is something I didn’t see at Lake Street.”

Alice, an EL junior, recalled that when she went to Lake Street there was no library, gym or cafeteria. “We used to eat lunch in our laps,” she said. The new school “is just a great environment.”

The yet unnamed school, and that enticing new playground, open Wednesday.