The Upper School Classroom building calls for the Academic ResearchCenter to be central to the facility because academics are the core of the upper school experience. The main reading area and adjacent rooms will provide inviting spaces for both students and teachers to study and research. Computer access and data ports will support on-line research. The resources included in this center will make it one of the best-equipped learning facilities in the country. Special features of the Academic Research Center include the library, reading room, reading loft with data access for laptops, periodical alcove, electronic reference suite, computer lab, telelearning seminar room, student publications workroom, resource room, conference room, and the Librarian's office.
The needs of a new generation of students will be supported through the advanced technological features of this facility. Computer clusters will be included in each classroom along with data access at student work stations to accommodate laptops. Foreign language classrooms will be equipped with technology for individualized learning stations specific to this discipline's learning requirements.
Each classroom will be equipped with an electronic whiteboard system including a computer, ceiling-mounted projector, software, Bluetooth accessories, student response system, and a DVD/VCR player.With this system, the interactive electronic whiteboard connects to a computer, utilizing the tools of the learning software and the global resources of the internet.Functionality of the computer is accessed on the large-screen white board.Bluetooth accessories allow a teacher and students to interact with the whiteboard from anywhere in the room.Hand-held response modules facilitate student participation and teacher assessment of learning in real time.
Robert Daigle, Managing Partner of Sugar Mill Pond Development Company, and Young's Industries owners Jim Bailey and John Noland, donated the property for the Ascension Upper School Campus. The donors gifted the land to the Community Foundation of Acadiana with the express purpose of the expansion of Ascension Day School into a high school program. Our earliest master plan for Sugar Mill Pond included a school as one of its critical components, said Daigle.The Ascension high school, with its well-deserved reputation for academic excellence, is an exciting addition to our community.
Community Foundation of Acadiana will serve as the lessor of the property, which will be occupied by Ascension Day School. Several interested parties have contributed to the vision of this institution. This school will further enhance the educational options in Acadiana and, thus, enhance the quality of life for its residents,said CFA Executive Director Raymond Hebert.
Ascension Day School Headmaster Pat Dickens is humbled by all parties involved in the extension of the school's mission of academic excellence in a Christian environment.The development of a high school at Sugar Mill Pond is an unbelievable opportunity. The generosity of the Sugar Mill Pond Development Company and Young's Industries, with the support from Community Foundation of Acadiana has made this remarkable project a reality, said Dickens.
Chairman of the Ascension Board of Trustees, Sudie Mann said, "This groundbreaking ceremony is a testament to the degree of support of the Ascension community, a support that is visible everyday on our campus. The generosity of our school family and the community at large have made this remarkable project possible.
Ascension expanded its campus to 9th and 10th grades in the fall of 2006. The high school's first graduating class will spend its senior year, 2008-2009, at the Sugar Mill Pond complex.
The construction represents the first phase of an ambitious building project. At the center of the Ascension high school campus will be a chapel. The Sugar Mill Pond campus also includes an additional classroom building, a Science and Business Center, Visual and Performing Arts Center, Administrative Building, and Student Services Building. The sports complex will include two gymnasiums, a natatorium, and a football stadium as well as softball, baseball and soccer fields.
Upon completion of the project, Ascension will educate between 100-150 students at each grade level on its Youngsville campus continuing the mission of academic excellence at its River Ranch (preschool) and Johnston Street (lower and middle school) campuses.
