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

  • DLR Group Announces New Mid-Atlantic Higher Education Leader

    Integrated design firm DLR Group recently announced that it has promoted Principal Shawn Gaither, AIA, LEED AP, to the role of higher education leader in the Mid-Atlantic, according to a news release. Gaither has served with the firm for more than 20 years, most recently as the national higher education business development leader.

  • Florida Gulf Coast University Selects Builder for New Academic Building

    Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Fla., recently announced that it has selected development and construction firm Skanska to build a new academic and health sciences building, according to a news release. Marieb Hall South will become the campus’ largest academic building at 158,040 square feet.

  • Virginia Tech Tops Out New College of Engineering Building

    Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., recently celebrated the topping out of Mitchell Hall, which will soon stand as the largest College of Engineering building on campus, according to a news release. The university partnered with Skanska on the 285,500-square-foot facility, which has an expected completion date of winter 2028.

  • Photo courtesy of Kraus-Anderson

    Concordia College Completes Memorial Auditorium Renovations

    Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., recently completed a $2.5-million renovation project to Memorial Auditorium, a news release reports. The college partnered with Kraus-Anderson for the project’s construction and ICON Architectural Group for its design.