The college students and personnel moved into their personal space—the aged Erie Elementary School—in 2012 and received renamed Arizona Higher education Prep-Erie. There, the students and team stayed for approximately 10 years without having taking part in fields for pupils and without having room to develop the university student physique, faculty officials explained.
July 21 marks the start off of the school 12 months and the opening of Arizona Higher education Prep Large School—the district’s most recent campus—which will house the Arizona University Prep college students and workers in a condition-of-the-art large faculty facility, Principal Robert Bickes explained.
The $84 million bond-funded facility is outfitted with a football field baseball and softball fields a soccer area classroom properties and area for electives these types of as culinary arts, orchestra and choir.
“The demand ongoing to expand as we went on,” Bickes claimed. “The initially graduating class experienced eight seniors. Sooner or later all-around 800 students have been intrigued in the campus, and it saved increasing.”
Bickes stated he anticipates all over 1,200 students will stroll by way of the halls of the new facility situated at Gilbert and Brooks Farm streets in Chandler this university yr.
“We will retain all the personnel and students from the other campus and with them, we will hold the tradition that is so essential to ACP,” he reported. “It’s all about the connections college students make below. We are limited-knit and want to make confident we do anything we can to ensure youngsters are valued as folks and get to the highway they want to continue on after substantial college.”
New facility
The new substantial college is 306,818 square toes, in accordance to district officers, and construction—which was nevertheless ongoing in early July—will be largely finished by the time the school opens its doors to pupils July 21. Bickes claimed the school’s health club will not be all set as the calendar year begins.
“The facility is wonderful,” he mentioned. “It’s seriously a new beginning for ACP.”
The facility provides seven sports activities spaces and seven properties in addition to a gymnasium, a cafeteria and a bookstore. Students at this campus, in maintaining with ACP custom, will proceed to use uniforms—the only high college in the district that requires it.
Arizona College or university Prep Significant School will, for the first time in its heritage, have attendance boundaries with the new campus. A 2-square-mile boundary among Cooper and Lindsay streets and Ocotillo and Chandler Heights roads is set for the college, but Bickes stated college students from wherever in the district can go to the school by the district’s open up enrollment coverage.
“We provide the total range of honors and [Advanced Placement] courses in addition to frequent classes and particular education and learning courses,” Bickes said. “Our aspirations are to make a personalized substantial university experience to fulfill the demands of just about every unique college student.”
In very last year’s graduating course of 187 seniors, much more than $23.4 million in tutorial scholarships have been offered to students. Graduates from the college have been acknowledged to 128 colleges and 
universities together with Johns Hopkins College, Massachusetts Institute of Know-how, Vanderbilt University and Yale University, to name a several. The faculty sees 99% of pupils matriculate to a higher education or university, in accordance to faculty officials.
Former Superintendent Camille Casteel mentioned it was an honor for this campus to be the very last constructed in her 25-12 months tenure as superintendent ahead of she formally retired in July.
“I am so enthusiastic for them,” she explained. “Teachers moved in [in late June], and the enjoyment at the campus is palpable. It’s a excellent put for families and an additional great selection for our students.”
Bickes mentioned the total-service facility is creating as a great deal excitement amongst college students as it is employees.
“I viewed a baseball exercise right here the other working day and I do not know who was far more fired up, the learners or the mentor,” he mentioned. “We experienced athletics teams in advance of, but they always practiced somewhere else. They hardly ever experienced a house video game on their campus.”
Faculty delight
Innovative Placement U.S. History teacher Kristen Bunch explained she is enthusiastic to welcome students to the new campus in July.
“It’s mind-boggling in an enjoyable and fun way,” she reported. “You stroll in and it is variety of like, ‘All this is for us?’ We generally adapted to what was out there and important, but it is brilliant to see this campus be so substantially larger than what we had at any time imagined for the faculty. We will have a selection of unique students, but we will keep that experience of remaining really focused on school and job readiness. We know this university is different.”
Bickes claimed the new campus will be greatly motivated by the university student entire body, just like at the past campus.
“Seniors operate the initially working day of college,” Bickes stated. “They develop a vision for what they want the college calendar year to seem like and set the tone that initially working day. Their motto, they decided for the yr, is ‘2022: The start off of some thing new.’ I imagine young ones chatting to young children can be much more impactful often than adults conversing to young children. This is their university, and the atmosphere is genuinely up to them.”
Bickes mentioned even with the opening of the greater campus, Arizona College or university Prep Substantial University will not drop the quality that tends to make it unique.
“We all say it’s a family members, and we want to be that family members at this new campus, also,” he said.
