“This is a momentous occasion for Global Impact, but also for Clark County and this greater surrounding region in the area,” said Founding Director and Superintendent Josh Jennings. “Today we celebrate not just the opening of this building, but we celebrate a vision. A vision of opportunity, innovation, and progress, a vision of a future to where students from across the region will continue to grow, learn, and lead in a space designed to meet the demands of tomorrow’s world.”
The new facility is for students in grades 10-12, who will be earning college credits, preparing to enter the workforce in fields such as agriculture, biotechnology, food science, aerospace or aviation technology, or choosing a path to continue their education. Students will be in the new building this August for the 2025-26 school year and beyond.
The goal is to provide additional space to help serve more students by expanding overall programming down to sixth grade starting this fall and by expanding the number of students in grades 7-8, which will help alleviate capacity restrictions at GISA’s current location inside the Springfield Center of Innovation at The Dome on South Limestone Street.
Jennings said GISA conducted its lottery for enrollment for all incoming sixth and seventh grade students. They have exceeded their target of 185 students in each of those grades and have a waitlist beyond that.
This is an increase in how many students they were able to serve in the past, at 125 students per grade level, Jennings said. The student enrollment for grades 6-12 is projected to grow from 940 students in 2025-26 to 1,225 by 2030-31.
The new facility includes academic spaces, labs, prep rooms, general classrooms, a patio with a garage door, delivery dock, a greenhouse, an entry plaza, plus offices, conference rooms, and a commons area.
Clark State provided the land for the new facility and will continue to provide additional classroom space for GISA teachers and students on their campus.
“I want to remind everybody that this partnership is about learning, it’s about students. Everything we do is about students,” said Clark State President Jo Alice Blondin. “We also know that this is a learning lab for the whole United States. We are going to welcome visitors from across the country to see what real collaboration looks like and how it benefits talent, workforce and students. This alignment really is a national model for so many.”
Horton Hobbs, former GISA board president, said the school is important to Springfield.
“This is just the beginning of the continued expansion of the Global Impact STEM Academy and it’s because of the support of this community,” he said. “... This school is front and center in the success and growth of this town.”
GISA officials are now starting to work on a phase II building, which will be east of the phase I building. Jennings said the site has been cleared, and a groundbreaking is anticipated in the coming months. Once complete, both phases will be home for all 9-12 grades starting in the fall of 2027.
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