Park Center Senior High School Set for $43M Makeover
Every day, more than 1,900 students pack into Park Center Senior High. The school opened in 1971, and according to district officials, its “bones” are in good shape.
“It’s actually, functionally, a really, really solid building,” said John Morstad, executive director of finance and operations for Osseo Area Schools.
Morstad said that the district has spent more money on Park Center over the last decade than it has on Maple Grove High School.
Yet he admits that the school could still use some touching up.
From the black floor in the cafeteria, to the tech ed room that used to be an auto shop, change at Park Center has been a long time coming.
“Our district wants the students at Park Center to have the same feeling that a student at Osseo [High School] has, that a student at Maple Grove [High School] has of, “I’m here, the folks here want to take care of us, they want to teach us. We feel really good about the environment we get to learn in,'” said Morstad.
Those changes will start to take shape this summer.
Park Center’s renovated media center will have a “learning staircase” that will serve as an amphitheater-style teaching area or a place where students can hang out.
Good Bones, New Soul
As part of the district’s Building a Better Future initiative approved by voters several years ago, Park Center will receive $43 million in upgrades.
The renovation will include a new media center with a so-called “learning staircase,” a brighter cafeteria, a school store stocked with Park Center Pirate merchandise and a new wing dedicated to career and technical education.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said Richard Harris, a technical education teacher at Park Center.
His class is filled with innovative projects, but the room itself is a relic from the past.
“Originally this room was the auto shop,” he said. “You can see the garage door back there. We had a hydraulic lift over here that they removed, so it wasn’t built for what we’re using it for.”
Harris said the renovation will move his department into a more optimal space that’s visible to the student body.
“We’ve literally had kids who take an engineering class as a 12th grader, and they didn’t even know that all of this was back here,” Harris said. “And then they say, ‘I wish I would have done this earlier,’ or ‘I wish I would’ve joined the robotics team.'”
Construction will take place in phases over the next three years. Crews will start on the third floor and work their way down.
That means Harris will have to be patient.
“We’re three years down the road, so we are still kind of trying to make improvements in here with what we have, but definitely excited for what’s going to happen down the road,” he said.
Construction on Park Center will happen over the next three summers with the project wrapping up in 2028.
Richard Harris’s tech ed classroom at Park Center will get a makeover during the final phase of the renovation project.
Park Center Senior High School
