Zanesville City Schools’ STEAM Center is set to open this fall. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held on July 15 to celebrate the completion of the center and introduce it to the community.
STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics, perfectly describing the intended use for the school’s new multipurpose state-of-the-art building. The 29,000-square-foot facility contains six classrooms, commons spaces, a 306-seat auditorium, and athletic spaces such as a 30-yard artificial turf indoor practice field, two batting cages, and a strength-training room.
“Three [classrooms] are going to be dedicated to robotics programs, so the elementary, middle school, and high school, they’re each going to have a team space. And we think that having those three teams here on site together will create a lot of mentoring between the elementary, high school, and middle school kiddos, and to partner with some engineers to come in and really teach the concepts behind it. So we’re excited about that,” explained Zanesville Superintendent Laura Tompkins. “We have a life skills room for the M-D/autism classrooms at the middle school. It contains washers and dryers, dishwasher, stove, refrigerator, so they can work on life skills. We’re going to have an indoor weight room that students can use either in physical education at the middle school or if sport teams are in here working in the turf space. And then our middle school band and orchestra will be housed here every day as well.”
The multi-use facility located at 1439 Blue Avenue (behind the middle school) will host district meetings, concerts, and drama club productions, just to name a few.
“I thought it was important for us to create a space for students in the community,” said Tompkins.
The complex cost roughly $13.3 million, most of which was covered with ESSER funds provided during the Covid-19 pandemic.
” So just to see kids get so excited about it, I think it’s just a wonderful space,” Tompkins said. “I’d like to thank the Board of Education. They really were behind us in making the decision for kids. And they’re a great supporter for our whole district. So our Board of Education is wonderful. And student success is always at the forefront of their decisions. And I have a great administrative team.”
