The Ben Lippen School broke ground on the first phase of $5.5 million expansion at its Monticello Road campus on Monday. The initial phase of the expansion includes a 13,000-square-foot arts and sciences center featuring eight new classrooms with specialized space for chemistry, robotics, engineering and visual arts.
The master expansion plan calls for a student activity center, a fine arts center and an expanded gymnasium. The school has raised $3.6 million of a $5.5 million capital campaign goal, according to a news release.
Ben Lippen headmaster Tony Fajardo said the school’s increasing enrollment — now at nearly 800 students in grades pre-K through 12 — and the needs of modern students make the expansion necessary.
“We are working to provide extraordinary opportunities in an inspiring educational environment from a biblical worldview as we impact more students and families and build upon our extraordinary community,” Fajardo said in the release.
The school’s $1 million Olympic-style track, which will be used by the Ben Lippen and Columbia International University track teams, is nearing completion, and construction is continuing on the $20 million William H. Jones Global Business & IT Center at the Ben Lippen/CIU campus entrance.
