Full STEAM ahead for W. Richland’s new middle school

Makers spaces, STEAM curriculum and a 3-D printer.

Oh, and robots.

Indeed, the Richland School District’s shiny new jewel is not like your parents’ school.

In just over a week, some 650 newly minted Chargers will run, shuffle, walk and stroll through the doors of Leona Marshall Libby Middle School.

Construction crews are putting the final touches on the $35 million school. The 108,000-square-foot building on Belmont Boulevard in West Richland is the district’s fourth middle school.

Named after Libby, the youngest member of the team responsible for building the world’s first nuclear reactor, the school’s science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) focus. Libby also helped oversee the development of Hanford’s reactors.

Walk in the door and you can see the central staircase that sits at the center of the school’s two wings. Three of the halls — one on the first floor and two on the second — hold classrooms for sixth through eighth grade.

Specialty classrooms occupy one of the wings. Gone are the shop classes and home economic kitchens. In their place are makers spaces, aimed at getting more students inventing, tinkering and building.

Computers are set up in the center of the room, and students will have access to a 3-D printer.

“The kids are going to be making things in here. They’re going to be making robots ... lots of different things,” said Todd Baddley, the assistant superintendent of instruction and secondary schools. “They’ll test it on the computer, and then there’s some space where they can test to get it right.”

The classrooms feature a lot of flexible space so students and teachers can rearrange the room to make it fit.

Along with makers spaces, students will have access to a production studio, where they can film and produce videos. Richard Krasner, the executive director of support services, said the design was developed after looking at Carmichael Middle School.

Each of the students will have access to a Google Chromebook, Baddley said.

“They’ll pick up their computer on the first day,” he said.

The school is the district’s first middle school constructed with a STEAM curriculum in mind.

It is one of the final buildings constructed with the money from the $98 million 2013 bond. The district also replaced Lewis and Clark, Marcus Whitman and Sacajawea elementary schools, built Orchard Elementary and is replacing Jefferson Elementary.

While outside the school is farm fields, School Board President Rick Jansons and Superintendent Rick Schulte point to where Elementary School 11 will sit on 15 acres along Belmont Boulevard.

And the school is within sight of the 70 acres the district bought last year that could hold a third high school.

The Richland district expects to add about 2,000 students by 2021.

This story was originally published August 19, 2017 at 3:38 PM with the headline "Full STEAM ahead for W. Richland’s new middle school."