Honoring the past, while also embracing the future, can be a tricky balance. With the help of School Specialty, Killeen High School in Killeen, Texas, has navigated this challenge perfectly in a recent renovation project, with newly furnished instructional spaces that position both students and teachers for success.
Originally built in the 1960s, Killeen High School expanded in the 1980s, but since then not much had changed in almost 40 years. As the community’s growing population outpaced what the building could accommodate, district officials took the opportunity not just to expand the facility even further but to modernize it as well.
As part of a $100 million bond issue, Killeen High School added new fine arts and CTE classrooms designed to prepare students for exciting careers, as well as new furniture to support future-ready instruction. Construction started in 2020 and finished during the spring 2023 semester.
“We wanted our building to last for another 40 years or more,” says Dean of Instruction Matt Widacki. “The way a classroom functions today is very different from the 1980s. More than anything else, it was about modernizing for the future.”
Classrooms Designed for Collaborative Problem-Solving
Prior to the renovations, most of the school’s classrooms had old-fashioned desk-chair combinations that didn’t effectively support active learning pedagogies.
“They took up a lot of space and weren’t conducive to giving teachers the flexibility they needed for delivering dynamic instruction,” Widacki says.
Killeen officials worked with School Specialty Senior Learning Environment Specialist Robin Wilburn to design modern classrooms equipped with individual seating and desks on casters that easily could be moved around and arranged into flexible groupings of from two to six students at a moment’s notice, depending on the nature of the day’s learning activity.
“Instruction is very different today,” Widacki explains. “It used to be ‘sit and get.’ Now, there is a lot more experiential learning. Students work in groups to solve problems with their peers, instead of working in isolation. It’s more like the problem-solving you see in the real world.”
He continues: “We need students to be able to sit individually and take a test, but also to work collaboratively and not lose valuable instructional time in making that transition. The furniture we use plays a huge role in enabling that successfully.”
Modern CTE Learning Environments
Career and technical education is another important aspect of a modern, future-ready education, and the newly renovated Killeen High School building also includes new classrooms and hands-on labs designed to help students learn essential career skills.
For instance, a designated robotics room is furnished with tall stools and tables for designing and building remote-controlled vehicles and other robotic devices. The tables are on casters so they can be moved to the sides of the room easily, Widacki says—opening up floor space for students to test their creations.
What’s more, the school’s criminal justice program now has a specially designed courtroom environment, complete with an elevated dais where the judge sits, a podium for testifying, and tables for the prosecution and defense. The room is connected to other classrooms via a closed-circuit TV system, so students can watch live as their peers conduct trials in the space.
Supporting Student and Teacher Success
As a result of the school’s modernization project, Killeen teachers are able to prepare students for the jobs of the future more effectively—and students can learn in comfortable environments that support more active and collaborative learning.
“School Specialty has been great to work with,” Widacki notes. Not only did School Specialty help design and furnish the school’s modern new learning environments, but the company also helped keep the project on schedule amid several moving parts.
“Our students and community are really proud of the newly renovated facility,” Widacki concludes. “We were mindful of preserving our traditions, because it’s important for us to honor the past— but we’ve been able to do that within an amazing new space.”
Create Your Own Authentic Learning Experiences
Connect with the experts at School Specialty to learn more about creating authentic CTE learning spaces at your school. Explore more ideas in our Inspiration Gallery.
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