“While schools across the country continue to face cuts and tight budgets, Imagine School at Coolidge is gearing up for another addition.
The new portion of the school is currently in the construction phase and will add a new middle school and high school building and include the addition of 10th grade with a possibility of 11th this coming year.
Currently, Imagine boasts a 98 percent return rate and its highest student population to date, 741. That number is expected to rise also, with the expansion of a full high school, which is expected throughout the next few years.
The new building will create separate wings to house seventh and eighth grade students and another for high school grades.
The addition has been made possible through a private investment group, which also funded another recent expansion that included 10 classrooms, seven new teachers, the implementation of ninth grade and about 250 students.
The most recent project is set tentatively to be completed Aug. 1, which will be in time for the 2011-2012 school year.
In addition to the buildings, the school will add a college prep curriculum, which will aim to prepare students for the real world.
Smart lab and color Kindle reading pads will only be part of the college and career oriented approach Imagine will take with students.
Partnerships will also be an important item, Principal Darrin Anderson noted, as he hopes to involve parents and local businesses in the students’ development.
Career oriented and AP courses, internships and project-based learning will be among several of the focuses Anderson and the Imagine team will utilize, as they expand their capabilities.
A newly formed collaboration with Central Arizona College will also allow students to enroll in college level courses, which will give them the opportunity to earn college credits and become accustomed to a post high school educational setting.
Ultimately, the vast number of opportunities available will allow students to explore different career paths. They can get a hands-on feel for what they might be doing, while also ensuring what they choose is the right thing.
Also taking off is the addition of athletics to the school.
An application has already been submitted so Imagine can enter into competitive sports and will include wrestling, basketball, volleyball, soccer and football, for starters.
‘The excitement within our community is already there,’ Anderson said.
In addition to traditional sports, other activities such as an Academic Decathlon, offered by AIA, will also be something Anderson hopes to offer.
A booster club is already in place and working hard to acquire funds, as Imagine is a non-profit entity, most equipment and apparatus will need to be purchased through donations.
So far the club has raised more than $12,000, which has been utilized, in part, to support a blossoming wrestling program that began this year.
Imagine will be subject to AIA guidelines as they are classed into a competitive bracket, and Anderson hopes to be included into the same division as Coolidge High School, which will hopefully create some healthy competition within Coolidge.
The tuition free learning environment will still focus primarily on academics, which are rigorous but not rigid, and ultimately aim to prepare students for success in college, a career and life.”
Article published on March 9, 2011 on TriValleyCentral.com