With Noblesville High School at capacity with nearly 3,300 students, additional athletic and academic space was needed to improve the rate of growth and success for students, according to school officials.
Two new NHS expansions were revealed June 15. Improvements include additional athletic and academic space. NHS officials said both projects were funded through a bond without a referendum or classroom dollars.
Several Noblesville Schools staff members, community partners and Miller Ambassador alumni attended the June 15 tour, which was led by Noblesville Schools Superintendent Dan Hile, NHS Chief Financial Officer David Hortemiller and Noblesville Schools Executive Director of Marketing and Communications Marnie Cooke.
“We are very blessed in many ways to have a community that sees the value in investing in our kids,” Hile said during the tour. “As your superintendent, I (never) take that funding for granted. I know that it matters, and we want to be good stewards of our community’s tax dollars and make sure that we do amazing things for our children because these are the Noblesville residents of tomorrow.”
Athletic Expansion
The athletic expansion, which was completed this summer after 18 months of construction, will provide an additional 36,000 square feet for athletics at NHS. The upgrades and expansion include a cardio room, new basketball courts, a new wrestling room and more.
The project, which cost $17.4 million, was completed under budget, according to Hortemiller.
“The new cardio room was formerly the wrestling room,” Hortemiller said. “It’s unbelievable how much that program has grown. (The cardio room) will primarily be used for wellness classes, and when it’s not used for those classes, it will be used as much as possible for teams or even teachers before and after school.”
Two new basketball courts have been added to the auxiliary gym.
“We have a curtain now to separate the courts, space for our pole vaulters to practice indoors and all of the (nets, curtains and batting cages) can come down by way of electronics,” Hortemiller said.
Other athletic enhancements include the new wrestling room, which has double the mat space the program previously had, and a golf simulator room to allow golfers to practice indoors.
The athletic office space also was expanded. NHS Administrative Assistant Bobbi Davis said she loves the new office space and that it is “a ton” bigger than it was before. The new space includes a central desk, several offices for staff, a conference room, a bathroom and a back room for storage and kitchen space.
“It was fine, but we didn’t have the conference room, which has come in handy,” Davis said. “The last one didn’t have any windows, and it was dark. It’s nice having the light.”
The girls basketball team now has its own locker room. Cooke said it wasn’t necessarily a luxury item but more of a necessity.
“One of the things that is interesting about (the locker room) is that it is leveling up facilities for girls to be equal to what we already had for boys,” Cooke said. “It was a necessity that these girls needed in terms of having equal facilities to the boys.”
Finishing touches are being applied, and the school will utilize the new athletic facilities in the 2024-25 school year.
Academic Expansion
Construction has begun on a $42 million academic expansion that will provide NHS with 70,000 new square feet and 37,000 square feet of existing space that will be renovated, the largest addition to the school since 2014. Hagerman Construction, the school’s construction manager, is constructing the project.
The two-story expansion, which is expected to be completed in August 2025, will provide space for up to 22 new classrooms, construction and welding labs, a hands-on STEM Makerspace, a second student cafe and more.
According to NHS officials, the overall student enrollment has grown by 25 percent since 2012. STEM class enrollment has increased by 193 percent while performing arts enrollment has increased by 76 percent.
“The new classrooms will focus on the career and technical type of classes,” Hortemiller said. “There will be a grab-and-go cafeteria for upperclassmen, and the second floor will have a lot of classrooms.”
Hortemiller said NHS is excited about the new welding lab with 12 welding bays.
“There is a high demand for those classes,” Hortemiller said. “A lot of students are going off-site because Ivy Tech provides a lot of welding classes. It is a program we are really excited to bring back in-house.”
There will also be an enclosed courtyard, which Cooke said will be a gathering space for students and the community.”
“I think we are planning to open that as a rental area,” Cooke said. “It will be a great community area that will be a nice gathering place for events. It will definitely be highly utilized by both our students and the community.
Hortemiller said the reason NHS chose specific programs/classes for the new building was student demand.
“When it comes to classes provided by a community partner, we aren’t necessarily guaranteed spots for our students,” Hortemiller said. We want to control the destiny of our students and make sure we have opportunities in high demand, such as welding.”
Hile said he is excited about what is in store for students in the years ahead.
“This isn’t my school. These facilities belong to the taxpayers of Noblesville Township, and they should feel welcome to see anything they want to see or know about any time they want,” Hile said. “There’s absolutely nothing I wouldn’t want to gladly show off and brag about the awesome things our kids (do) every day.”
For more, visit nhs.noblesvilleschools.org.
What’s new and what’s to come
Construction of the new academic and athletic center will provide students with several new spaces. New amenities, some of which will be readu this school year and some that will come in 2025, include:
- New basketball courts
- Additional girls locker rooms
- A golf simulator room for indoor practice
- New athletic office space
- A new wrestling room
- A cardio room for wellness classes and sports teams
- Enhancements for cheerleading and volleyball
- Up to 22 new classrooms, including space for STEM and traditional academic courses
- Construction and welding labs
- A hands-on STEM makerspace
- A second student café
- A renovated large group instruction room to provide flexible meeting space
- An expanded jazz space
- New percussion and piano lab areas
- Expanded choir facilities, storage and sound proofing
