With a big crash on Thursday morning, school officials and construction workers said goodbye to a piece of Vashon High School, demolishing one of the old buildings to make room for the highly anticipated new school.

VHS principal Susan Hanson — donned in a hardhat and safety gear — took the first few swings with an excavator, topping the brick wall and metal awning on the north side of Building C. The building once housed science and math classes, some of which will be held in portables next school year.

Eric Gill, the school district’s capital projects manager, said the entire building would be leveled by the end of the day. Metal and wood debris, he said, will be separated and recycled.

“It’s not all going to the landfill,” he said.

Construction began on the high school campus a couple weeks ago, closing all the buildings as well as the entire lower parking lot and part of the upper parking lot. The demolition of Building C, he said, was the first big sign of what’s to come at the school.

“A lot of other work is going on for site utilities,” Gill said, “but this is kind of the first dramatic indicator of construction and moving forward.”

Building C is the only building at the campus to be torn down this summer. The other buildings will be demolished in early 2014 after classes are moved into the new school.