A groundbreaking was recently held for a new building at Bluffton High School which will house several programs assisting students who are interested in pursuing various career fields after graduating.
Ground was recently broken for the new Bluffton High School Career and Technology Education (CTE) building with numerous district and town officials in attendance.
The new 23,000-square-foot building is designed to expand hands-on learning and prepare students for careers in high demand fields, according to a district spokesperson.
“On behalf of Town of Bluffton Mayor Larry Toomer, the Bluffton Town Council, Town Manager, and staff, congratulations to Bluffton High School and Beaufort County School District on the groundbreaking of Bluffton High School’s
new Career and Technical Education (CTE) Building!” a Town of Bluffton spokesperson said.
The new CTE building is scheduled to open in August of next year and the project is being funded by the 2023 school board referendum, a Beaufort County School District spokesperson said.
The new building is located at 12 H.E. McCracken Circle in Bluffton.
“The new CTE building is going to have our fire program, building construction, family consumer science with two foods labs, Army JROTC Program, and our AI program out here,” Bluffton High School Principal Matt Hall said during the event. “What’s great about the CTE program is it’s actually preparing our students for real world, real life, future careers.”
The new facility, the school district spokesperson said, will give several CTE programs state-of-the-art learning spaces, creating more opportunities for students to develop industry skills before graduation.
One of the many fields of study which will be available at the new location will be public safety and firefighting.
“For public safety and firefighting, this space is going to help my students get climatized to being in a firehouse situation,” Bluffton High School Firefighter Instructor Jeron Martinez said during the event. “It’s going to benefit not only the students, but this whole community for years to come. This program has already produced firefighters that are actively working in Bluffton Township Fire Department, Hardeeville Fire Department, Jasper County Fire Rescue and Beaufort, all throughout the counties and throughout the state.”
Mimi Ricks, Bluffton High School’s Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher, said the space would be amazing for the program.
“This will allow the students to have a more commercial kitchen and allow them to see what it is actually like to work in a kitchen.” Ricks said.
Sean Seder, Bluffton High School’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) teacher, said the space will allow students to be equipped with a state-of-the-art, AI-focused classroom.
“I’m really excited the kids get to experience that type of environment and it will help us continue to move along with the AI program,” Seder said.
Bluffton High School senior Jim Williams said, “for building construction and engineering, it will be so cool to have a much bigger area where we are able to build bigger and better buildings.”
The Bluffton High School Army JROTC classrooms are currently housed outside in smaller classrooms with the new addition providing more room for the program.
Zachary Metsker, a Bluffton High School junior, said having the new space would be very beneficial to the Bluffton High School Army JROTC Program.
“Right now, we have a very small space outside in mobile classrooms,” he said. “Having our own space to grow and be able to practice our color guard and drill in our own space away from the school will be very beneficial.”
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Groundbreaking for new Bluffton High School CTE building held
