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 mjones@1105media.com.

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