| The district's commitment to college and career readiness is evident in its career-focused learning academies throughout the district. Leuzinger High School features the Multimedia Careers Academy, Environmental Careers Academy, Advanced Academics and the newly completed Culinary Careers Academy. Since the completion of phase 2, student enrollment has climbed from 1500 to 1800 students at this site demonstrating student interest in educational programs that are rigorous and relevant. Overall test scores have improved at Leuzinger High School with an API increase of 58 points and 17/22 of the AYP criteria met.
The project scope included the demolition of existing aged, crowded buildings and the construction of a new two-story classroom building that includes a cafeteria and dining facility, hospitality wing and a media arts wing. The configuration of the new building creates a separate outdoor learning environment for each academy: one for the Culinary Careers Academy and one for the Multimedia Careers Academy. Both have permanent amphitheater-like seating built into each courtyard to support outdoor learning opportunities.
The classroom building, part of Leuzinger High School’s multi-phased campus-wide transformation, is intended to support the needs of students and reinvigorate the surrounding community. The main dining space is envisioned as a community-use space and the upcoming phase 3 media center is designed to be open to the community and shared with nearby community colleges.
The new classroom building and large, open area quad have become popular areas on the campus. What used to be a sea of dilapidated portables, shop buildings that weren’t utilized, and an existing cafeteria building that wasn’t accessible to students is now a large, landscaped quad that connects the Culinary Careers and Multimedia Academies to the rest of the campus and provides outdoor learning opportunities that engage students in the full spectrum of learning styles.
The new classroom buildings are a significant upgrade to the 1920s factory model learning environment, featuring the latest in energy efficiency and cost-effective design in addition to educational spaces that support career technical/common core-oriented curriculum that foster creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. High performance is not just about energy efficiency—it’s about high performance student/learning environments.
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