WACO, Texas — Midway High School students are set to walk into a brand new $23.5 million career and technical education (CTE) wing on Thursday.
The CTE addition includes new classrooms designed for hands-on learning in subjects such as health sciences, engineering, computer science, photography, and fashion design.
The 57,087 sq ft. expansion comes after Midway ISD's bond program passed in 2019. Originally projected to cost $31.1 million, the wing came in more than $7.5 million under budget.
The new CTE center is designed to help students prepare for college or for a career after graduation.
"It gives the opportunity for kids to explore and look and investigate some of things that we, as adults, never had the opportunity to look at," Midway High principal Alison Smith said.
Photography teacher Jamie Beavers called the new wing a "game changer," allowing her students to have more access to computers and an all-new photo lab. She described her new room as a major change from her previous classroom.
"It was too small, it didn't have enough ports for computers. The space was just not designed for us. This one was custom made," she said.
Beavers said she was a part of the design process for the new wing from the very beginning.
Construction began on the site in 2020, and despite the pandemic, was completed on time.
The district also added two classrooms to its agriculture building, including a vet tech lab and a welding shop.
The addition is estimated to expand the school's capacity by more than 400 students.
