MILTON-FREEWATER – About 50 people gathered in the open, grassy field between McLoughlin High School (Mac-Hi) and Central Middle School on Monday evening, October 10th to break ground for the new STEAM Building for the Milton-Freewater Unified School District.
The facility will be the future home for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) programs serving grades six through twelve.
Speaking to the assembled crowd, Superintendent Aaron Duff said, “This is an exciting day for our district, for the teachers who will teach here and the students who will learn many skills in these new spaces. We like to say in our district that we build it for 100 years, and for the next 100 years students will benefit from this facility.”
Since the new building is situated between the middle school and the high school, Duff said it will serve as a bridge for students between those two schools, both in physical location and in the fact that middle school students will have some experience in the STEAM facility before they start high school.
The project is funded entirely by federal and state ESSER grants. The building is slated to be ready for the 2023-2024 school year.
Photo: MFUSD School board Members and Superintendent Duff are all smiles at the event. LEFT to RIGHT: Board Members Claudia Limon, Duane Geyer, Kelly Kessler, Don Miller, Kathy Silva, Tina Kain and Tim McElrath and Superintendent Duff.