Construction has been underway for two years for Vicksburg Warren School District’s new Academy of Innovation. 

The facility is now completed, and the doors will be open for the start of the 2021-2022 school year, with teachers and staff returning on Aug. 2 and students on Aug. 6. 

“This is such an exciting time for AOI teachers, students and staff,” Academy of Innovation principal Dr. Jason McKellar said. “Being able to teach and learn in a building they helped to imagine and design is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We are so grateful to the community for supporting students with this modern learning space.”  

The new building, which is located on the corner of Mission 66 and Rosa A. Temple Drive cost $16,454,000 and was made possible by the passage of an $83 million facilities bond passed in March 2018. 

AOI began in 2014 in the former Grove Street School built in 1949 and served approximately 80 7th and 8th-grade students. Since then, it has grown to serve nearly 400 students today, VWSD director of communications Christy Kilroy said.

In 2018, AOI was named the first Leader in Me Lighthouse Middle School in the state and applied for recertification in 2020.

As a STEM-based program of study, the new building has been designed to support a combination of individualized and cooperative learning experiences and accommodate various learning styles.

 A student-led ribbon-cutting event is being planned for the new AOI school building in early September and the community will be invited to attend.