The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts held a groundbreaking ceremony Friday at the future site of the first new academic building in the school's history.
Work on the $4.5 million Creativity and Innovation Complex is scheduled to start in September and open in 2019. The academic facility will be the second new structure in ASMSA history after the Student Center was completed in 2012.
"We've got a lot of work ahead in the coming months, but I am especially thrilled the building will be ready for part of the school's 25th anniversary celebration," said ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice.
"ASMSA has been successful because of countless students, teachers, staff, parents, alumni, business leaders, decision makers and other partners across both the state and country who value talent development and harbor greater aspirations for the state of Arkansas."
Alderdice said a planning group has worked for the past year to finalize the building's designs. The school worked with the University of Arkansas System to utilize a variety of sources of funding to advance the project.
One source was the Oaklawn Foundation, which awarded ASMSA a grant of $300,000 in December toward the CIC's construction. It is the largest single gift in school history and the largest ever awarded by the foundation.
The gift promoted the school's project on the state level. Oaklawn Foundation Chairman Dennis Smith announced during Friday's ceremony the Arkansas Community Foundation plans to present a grant in the same amount of $300,000 to ASMSA next month.
Alderdice and U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-District 4, noted the project's impact on the ongoing revitalization of downtown Hot Springs. Westerman attended the event following a ceremony at the Hale Bath House for the first, and only, boutique hotel in Hot Springs National Park. He commended the school for its development of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.
"We have a tremendous need for more STEM-educated individuals in our country today and this school does a tremendous job preparing young people to do all kinds of things, not just in the STEM fields," Westerman said. "I am so glad to see this building, this facility, that will be dedicated to innovation, because we know we need more innovation in our country if we want to stay on the cutting edge.
"If we want to remain leaders in technology and leaders in science, it is going to take more than just brain power. It is going to take creativity and innovation."
State Sen. Bill Sample, R-District 14, accompanied Alderdice to a meeting with Gov. Asa Hutchinson two years ago. The governor's office designated $500,000 in General Improvement Funds for the school's architect and engineering fees for planning and renderings of the project. The remaining funds will be used toward construction.
Sample said many representatives from a number of different groups were involved in efforts to secure funding and plan the project. He said the new facility will serve as a testament to how well ASMSA graduates represent the state.
Alderdice made special note of the ASMSA Foundation Board of Ambassadors. State Rep. Les Warren, R-District 25, serves as chairman of the board.
"Their advocacy, enthusiasm and, yes, even their financial support are how ASMSA is able to provide extraordinary opportunities for our students, to explore new programs and to achieve our expanded mission of improving learning for all Arkansas students," Alderdice said.
Warren commended the work of former legislator Steve Farris for his efforts in helping the Student Center be completed. He said he is looking forward to a clear look at the campus after the demolition of the former St. Joseph's Hospital complex, which is planned to be removed within 30 months after the new building is completed.
The 20,000-square-foot complex will include classroom space for computer science, a maker space for 3-D printing, CNC milling, laser cutting and rapid prototyping, as well as classroom space for digital arts, such as digital photography and graphic design.
The first floor will be named the Dan Fredinburg Technology Center in honor of the 1999 alumnus who became the head of privacy for Google X, the research and development facility for Google. Fredinburg died in an avalanche at the south base camp of Mount Everest in 2015. The avalanche was caused by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that claimed the lives of almost 9,000 people in Nepal and injured another 22,000.
The Dan Fredinburg Foundation has contributed more than $175,000 in gifts to ASMSA. Members of Fredinburg's family were recognized by the school on Friday.
Vicki Hinz, director of institutional advancement, presented two statues in recognition of the inaugural members of the ASMSA Founder's Society for gifts in excess of $50,000. A statue was presented to Fredinburg's family and another to former Hot Springs Mayor Helen Selig and her husband, John.
The CIC will include assembly space large enough for the entire ASMSA student body. Donald Bobbitt, president of the University of Arkansas System, said Alderdice was more deliberate in his vision for ASMSA than other candidates he interviewed for the director position.
"He saw what this school could be," Bobbitt said. "He saw potential and that potential would be realized not in one year or two years, but would really be realized over a number of years, perhaps a decade."
The project was designed by Rico Harris of Harris Architects in Hot Springs. Seale's Construction Company, of Sparkman, was recently selected to oversee the construction of the CIC.
Local on 08/26/2017