A new, state-of-the-art high school in Casper, Wyoming, is providing students interactive learning experiences and exposure to future careers. Pathways Innovation Center offers juniors and seniors in the Natrona County School System personalized education through four academies focused on multiple disciplines, including engineering and design. And midway through its first year, the results are already impressive, according to the school’s leadership.
Scott Krenner
Design lead and senior associate, Cuningham Group Architecture Inc., Denver
The goal of Pathways Innovation Center is to inspire kids who are not necessarily planning to move on to four-year colleges. Rather than follow a traditional vocational approach, this high school presents new pathways to success that may not be found in standardized tests and programs.
Our firm worked with local partner MOA Architecture to design the 38-acre campus, which also includes the new Roosevelt High School. The Pathways program is open to all juniors and seniors in the school district.
At the center of Pathways Innovation Center is its “Fabrication Hall,” a 5,000-square-foot, two-story common space surrounded by labs equipped with cutting-edge technology. It encourages teams from all academies to collaborate on projects and is inspired by private-sector facilities, including Boeing Aerospace in Washington state, where engineering and design teams work under one roof.
This unique, sunlight-filled space is large enough to build homes and solar-powered airplanes. The hall has 16-foot-high, custom-fabricated glass bay doors that fully open to the outside. On the inside, the hall is viewed from glass-walled design spaces, including a “floating blue box” overlooking the hall for informal learning.
The hall is viewed from glass-walled design spaces, including a “floating blue box” overlooking the hall for informal learning.
This approach creates conversations between academic disciplines, including construction, woodworking, metals, welding, robotics, arts and furniture making. It’s an incubator for prototyping. Ideas are generated and then connect with the different academies at the school.
Pathways already has benefited the students and community, said Principal Chad Sharpe. First semester data show that 88 percent of students received all credits attempted, and 98 percent of students received three of the four credits attempted.
“More importantly there is hope in many students’ eyes,” Sharpe said. “They are excited about learning. In construction, welding and auto, those students who are taking math are saying things like, ‘This is the first time I have ever understood how math works!’ They are stepping up to large challenges and blowing us away with their leadership, courage, empathy and excellence.”
By providing real-world opportunities, Pathways is empowering the students to succeed. Students in the Academy of Creative Arts, Communication and Design worked all first semester on a project with the local YMCA redesigning its donor wall. The process included ideation, prototyping, pitching, facilitating, presenting and building. The result is a three-dimensional piece that will be in the community for 50 years. Students in the Academy of Business, Agriculture and Natural Resources have been busy building aquaponics systems, irrigation systems, growing crops, raising chickens and tilapia, and creating decadent food in the culinary program. Students in the Academy of Health Sciences and Human Services have been embedded in learning how to be better collaborators, communicators and researchers all while preparing to sit for the Certified Nursing Assistant certification. Forty-five students have received the 10-hour OSHA certification. Forty-six students received their ServSafe certifications. And 70 students have received their CPR certification.
“I think my favorite sight is the smiles on faces, the intensity and passion, the professionalism and genuine interaction of mentors with mentees … and sometimes, the mentors are teenagers,” Sharpe said. “Reading, writing, math and running a lathe are all important, but students also need to learn collaboration.”
Roosevelt High School Principal Shawna Trujillo is as stimulated by the new facility as her students. “We have designed spaces that push students and teachers to think and interact differently, while they learn,” she said. “The light, colors and the views of the mountain are inspiring. We are blessed.”
