Nebraska Town Breaks Ground on New High School

A groundbreaking ceremony was held this week for a new high school in Boys Town, Neb. The three-story, 110,000-square-foot facility will stand on the site of the small town’s previous high school, which was built in 1948 and was recently demolished to make room for construction. The project comes with a budget of $30 million and is currently scheduled for completion in August 2023.

“This school will serve as our incubator for educational concepts that we will teach to over 500 schools a year, including many right here in Nebraska,” said Father Steven Boes, Boys Town’s national executive director.

The facility will have the capacity for the district’s estimated 350 high-school students. About 80% of students arrive at the school with distinct academic deficiencies or behavior challenges, said a Boys Town spokeswoman, but 97% proceed to graduate from high school or continue their education.

According to local news sources, the village of Boys Town was founded in 1917 by the Rev. Edward J. Flanagan. Also known as “Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home,” the town is dedicated to the treatment, care, and education of at-risk children.

“This new education center will help Boys Town continue to provide a safe and inspiring learning experience for our students,” said Boes. “We continue to make improvements on our campus as the needs of our children change.”

According to the Boys Town website, the Boys Town Education Center will feature amenities like science labs, state-of-the-art technology, adaptive indoor and outdoor classroom environments, a Maker’s Space, a multilevel media center, common spaces, a quiet gathering space for prayer and meditation, and centralized offices for administration and the behavioral intervention team.

About the Author

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

Featured

  • Wisconsin District Breaks Ground on New Elementary School

    The School District of La Crosse in La Crosse, Wis., recently broke ground on a new elementary school that will consolidate the students and staff of two existing schools, according to local news. Funding for the school comes from a $53-million referendum approved in 2024.

  • University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Launches New Emergency Communications System

    The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) recently deployed a new emergency notification and incident management system for its campus, according to a news release. The university partnered with 911Cellular to launch Safe@UTC, a smartphone app allowing university officials to communicate and respond during emergency situations.

  • Classical building columns display digital data streams

    The Campus Nervous System: Why Facilities Risk Is Now a Leadership Issue in Higher Education

    Facility performance now intersects with safety, compliance, on-campus experience, institutional reputation, and financial resilience. That places it firmly on the leadership agenda.

  • Wold Architects & Engineers Acquires VPS Architecture

    Full-service planning, architecture, and engineering firm Wold Architects & Engineers recently announced that it has acquired VPS Architecture, according to a news release. The move will help strengthen Wold’s education and public-sector design expertise, industries in which both companies have strong pre-existing ties and relationships.