18 May 2023
SHAWNEE COUNTY (KSNT) – Washburn Rural High School broke ground Wednesday on its new Innovation Center.
Soon enough, an empty field in the northwest corner of Washburn Rural High School will become a new 50,000-square-foot facility that educators hope will better prepare students who are entering the workforce and post-secondary professional programs.
With an increase in demand for career technical education programs at Washburn Rural, this new facility, which is funded by a recent bond vote, will focus on a variety of technical programs. It will include everything from vocational agriculture to video production. School leaders say they’re working to meet the needs of students who have career plans outside of a traditional four-year university degree.
“We have about 16 percent of our kids that go directly into the workforce,” Washburn Rural High School Principal Ed Raines said. “And it’s just as important to attend to the needs of those kids and to equip them with the skills that they need to be successful in whatever path they choose as it is to get our kids ready for college. And so this has been an ongoing discussion for several years, and fortunately, the voters in our community have decided it was important enough as well.”
During construction of the new innovation center, other spaces inside the high school will also be renovated such as the debate and forensics area, the visual arts department and the school’s exceptional learning area.
The project is expected to be complete by January 2025.