Pea Ridge High School

4 PEA RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL | 12.30.2020 By Randy Rice The new high school in Pea Ridge opened its doors in September of 2020. It is the culmination of an eight-year strategic plan put together by then School Superintendent Rick Neal along with the school board and community leaders. That plan set out to reinvent the educational experience in Pea Ridge and bring real value to the high school diplomas given out by the district. The expansive new facility is linked to all of the facets that go into making graduates career ready and college ready. It is the grand end, and new beginning, of what the school district and community at large have been striving towards. The much-anticipated 90,000 square foot high school complex is as innovative as the programs it houses. It looks less like a traditional high school and more like a high-tech business campus. "It's truly just a beautiful building inside and out," Pea Ridge School Superintendent Keith Martin said. "The kids are going to be working and living and learning in this amazing setting. I think it will enable them to walk into any other environment, be it a business or college, and feel comfortable. And the best thing about this space is the flexibility. It allows our programs of study to grow and adjust as the needs within our community and region change." 2020 being the year of COVID-19 meant the opening of the building was not exactly as the community had imagined it. "First of all, we were scheduled to start school on the Monday right after the weekend we moved in," Pea Ridge High School Principal Charley Clark explained. "But then the governor pushed back our school year start date which ended up being a huge blessing for us because by pushing it back we were able to move in and have basically a week to get prepared." The pandemic also meant that having a big, grand opening event for the community was not possible. But nonetheless, opening day finally came. And when it did, it did not disappoint. "The first day the kids arrived I just watched their reactions," Clark said. "They would all get about 20 feet into the building and just stop and look around with amazed looks on their faces." When you enter the high school, it is an impressive site. You walk into a two- story atrium with floor to ceiling windows that is the high school cafeteria, but it looks more like a food court in a high-end shopping mall. Turn right and you journey past classrooms with all of the modern equipment you would be happy to find in a college or university, and extremely impressed to find at the high school level. At the end of the hall is the new medical center that is open to the public and doubles as the perfect education tool for those choosing a pathway program related to the medical profession. If you were to turn left upon entering the high school, you would walk past the open space built for students to hang out and socialize called The Quad that resembles a college student union. Beyond that awaits the new, state-of-the- art athletic center and the stunning fine arts center that has all of the cutting edge equipment for sound, lighting, staging, and even video production. "We've got different pathways of study that students get to choose," Kevin Ramey, one of the district's two assistant superintendents, said. "But they're all interconnected. So it was important that the functionality of the school space allow for students to be exposed to the other different pathways so they get a more rounded education. The multi- purpose design of the classrooms and other areas lends itself to that kind of learning experience." Pride doesn't begin to describe just how the administration, the teachers, the students and community at large feel about their new high school. For Superintendent Martin, who began his career in Pea Ridge as a teacher 23 years ago, it marks a new chapter in the ongoing journey the school district has been on the past two decades. "The work and the involvement and passion that everyone in our community has for our school district made all the difference. And the results can be found in the amazing growth that you see when you look at our facilities compared to where we were 23 years ago," he said. "It's simply remarkable. And that only comes from the support of a community all working together to make sure that students have what they need to meet the challenges of today's workplace." Pea Ridge High School celebrates its first 100 days The kids are going to be working and living and learning in this amazing setting. I think it will enable them to walk into any other environment, be it a business or college, and feel comfortable. " Keith Martin Superintendent

• Cover