The Natrona County (Wyo.) district has opened a new high school facility in Casper that is designed to provide students with an interactive and personalized learning experience and exposure to future career opportunities.
Juniors and seniors in the district who participate spend half of their school day—either morning or afternoon—at the Pathways Innovation Center, which has four academies focused on multiple disciplines: Architecture, Construction, Manufacturing and Engineering (ACME); Business, Agriculture, Natural Resources (BANR); Creative Arts, Communication and Design (CADC0; and Health Sciences Human Service (HSHS).
About 300 students are part of the program in its inaugural year.
At the center of Pathways Innovation Center is “Fabrication Hall,” a 5,000-square-foot, two-story common space surrounded by labs equipped with cutting-edge technology. Student teams from all academies are encouraged to collaborate on projects. The design concept for Fabrication Hall was inspired by private sector facilities, including Boeing in Washington state, where engineering and design teams work under one roof.
The hall has 16-feet-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 38-acre campus also includes a new Roosevelt High School.
The architects are Cuningham Group Architecture and MOA Architecture.