Construction is complete for the new Elkhart High School

ELKHART, Ind.-- After over a year-long merging process, Elkhart Central High School and Elkhart Memorial High School will become one, bringing a new school and new opportunities for students, faculty, and staff members.

Elkhart Community Schools announced this plan back in Fall of 2020. Things first started off with their athletics and music team merging together in 2020, and then began their transition period throughout the year until 2021. During this time, classes and schedules between the two schools were as similar as possible, but students stayed at their existing campus. They were able to engage in path-way based learning, which allowed students to focus in within their school of study during the construction. 

Now, construction and the transition of students grades 10-12 at Elkhart Memorial campus has been fully completed, just as they had hoped for! Instead of two schools, it's now just one, Elkhart High School, which includes 6 schools of study designed to apply the state’s academic standards to students’ areas of interest.

Of those 6 schools, students will get the opportunity to study:

• Arts and Communications 
• Business and International Relations.
• Engineering
• Technology and Innovation
• Health and Public Safety
• Human Services and Natural Resources. 

The schools of study will align with the Elkhart Area Career Center’s and Technical Education Programs, which focuses on bigger and better collaborations between students and staff members. Students can enter Elkhart High School's “School of Study Program” during their sophomore year, and students can enter the Elkhart Area Career Center as juniors or seniors. 

Elkhart High school’s Executive Principal Cary Anderson says the new school and opportunities are remarkable! He says in a statement: 

“While it’s easy for most people to drive by a high school and assume they know what’s happening inside, the course of education has changed drastically in the last few years. The blending of this space so students are amongst their peers in programs that work together in the real world, with the flexibility for adult programs to use the space in the evening, demonstrates the high level of collaboration with our local businesses leaders when we imagined what the 'next’ Elkhart High School could look like."

The Elkhart Area Career Center’s Director Brandon Eakins says that there’s a high demand of skilled people in the workforce, and this program will help bring more valuable workers to any and all career paths. Elkhart Community Schools Superintendent Steve Thalheimer saying in a statement:

“We’re excited to show our community the outcome of many years of hard work. To merge two high schools and to design an entirely new curriculum that integrates the academic standards into a student’s field of interest is outstanding enough on its own. To do this during a pandemic, with the last 18 months of uncertainty and mitigation as a community, is truly a monumental effort on the part of our administrators, teachers, and staff who built this from the ground up.” 

There will be an open house on Monday starting at 6 PM for the Elkhart community to stop by at the at the Tom Mittler Advanced Manufacturing Center/Engineering, Technology and Innovation School of Study building at 2510 California Road in Elkhart. It will start with opening remarks from Elkhart leaders, and self-guided tours and a map will be offered.

Guests are also welcome to attend a ribbon cutting for the new Lake City Bank branch located on campus at 2608 California Road on Monday, kicking off at 6:30 PM. The branch is located inside of the new high school, and is a component of the Business and International Relations School of Study which provides students opportunities to learn finance and banking in a work-based setting. Guided tours will also be available on a limited basis.