Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Kraus-Anderson Completes $122M Career Academy High School

  • By Matt Jones
  • 02/07/23

The office of Kraus-Anderson Construction Company in Duluth, Minn., recently announced that construction is complete on the new Rock Ridge Career Academy High School in Virginia, Minn. According to a news release, the school measures in at 280,000 square feet and was designed by Cuningham Group Architecture and local firm DSGW Architects.

Amenities include an open main commons area; active learning studios and lab spaces; a CTE center; and labs for carpentry, metals, automotive work, culinary arts, and certified nursing assistant (CNA) skills. It also features a pool, gymnasium, and small- and large-scale collaboration spaces.

The school offers a wide variety of career tracks within three academies. According to the news release, the career tracks include “(1) Business Management, Administration, Arts, Communications and Information Systems; (2) Health and Human Services; and (3) Agriculture, Food, Manufacturing, Construction, Engineering and Science.” The news release reports that Rock Ridge Career Academy High School serves as the only wall-to-wall career academy school in the U.S. north of the Twin Cities area.

“Rock Ridge High School was built to be a world-class school. It was specifically designed for both direct instruction and project-based learning to flourish as teaching and learning tools in a career academy structure for all students,” said Rock Ridge Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Noel Schmidt. “It is no hyperbole to say that the community, teachers, and students can be proud of this extraordinary high school, which will be the envy of many districts throughout the State of Minnesota and United States. It is that unique.”

The school’s construction began in 2020, according to the news release.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Spaces4Learning Launches 2026 Education Design Showcase Awards

    Spaces4Learning has opened submissions for the 2026 Education Design Showcase! The awards program launched in 1999 with the goal of celebrating innovative, practical solutions in the planning, design, and construction of K–12 and higher-education facilities. EDS recognizes new developments that help achieve optimal learning environments, as well as the architecture firms that brought the ideas to life.

  • NWEA Report Recommends K–12 Natural Disaster Recovery Strategies

    The Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), a K–12 assessment and research organization, recently announced the release of a new playbook for schools and communities recovering from extreme weather events, according to a news release.

  • concentric silhouettes of a human head

    How Physical Space Shapes the Mind: Designing for Better Learning Outcomes

    Research in environmental psychology and neuroscience increasingly suggests that the way a room is designed can influence memory, focus, or even a student's sense of belonging.

  • California K–12 District Completes Elementary School Campus Replacement

    The West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) in Richmond, Calif., recently announced the completion of a replacement campus for Lake Elementary School, according to a news release. The school has capacity for 470 students between Transitional Kindergarten (TK) and sixth grade.