The city of Yonkers officially broke ground on a new school that plans to make history just like the woman it's named for.

"It's a historical day," said music teacher Laura Reyes.

Mayor Mike Spano says the district is 4,500 seats over capacity and that many schools are old. The new building is one of three new schools slated to open in Yonkers.

"Our kids were learning in classrooms with leaky roofs, windows that were cracked," says Spano.

The new building is located on McLean Avenue and will serve 675 students from pre-K through eighth grade. The school is named for Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.

"I'm glad that they chose somebody who is a woman of color, especially with how diverse Yonkers is," says Belle Morrison, a 10th grade student.

Reyes says the children will have role models to look up to.

The doors at the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Community School are expected to open in time for the 2023-24 school year.