School leaders, students, and community members gathered on May 15 at Incline High School to celebrate the official ribbon cutting of the school’s new expansion, a modern, three-story building that adds 12,000 square feet of new learning space.
The new building includes a JROTC space on the first floor, principal Tierney Cahill said.
“On the second floor, we have a student leadership classroom. We have a state-of-the-art dance studio, and then we have Highlander Café, that’s honestly a state-of-the-art hospitality space for our students to learn and then go out into the community and be employable,” Cahill said.
The expansion also improves campus safety, she said.
“We’re a secured building now, a single point of entry. No more code yellows because of bears, where we have to worry about kids in a building outside,” Cahill said.
In addition, the existing campus received upgraded security systems, enhanced audio/visual technology, and new drought-tolerant landscaping.
Culinary arts teacher Neal Young is especially excited about the new kitchen space.
“When some of our students saw it for the first time, I had students walking around with their hands on their heads, almost in tears, as if they had just witnessed a miracle. Just to know that they were going to be able to teach in this kitchen blew them away,” Young said.
For students like Carolina Avakemian, the new building is already making school feel more exciting.
“As students, we’re eager and very excited to start using these new spaces and make the most out of this new building,” Avakemian said.
The $35 million project was made possible by a donation from the Dave and Cheryl Duffield Foundation and was approved by the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees in 2021. Construction began in July 2023.
