For Immediate Release

February 3, 2010

Media inquiries

Dennis J. Barger ● Principal, Vail Academy and High School ● (520) 879-1904 ● bargerd@vail.k12.az.us

Jessa B. Turner ● Media & Public Relations Coordinator ● (520) 382-2485 ● jbturner@uatechpark.org

Vail Academy & High School Breaks Ground at the Tech Park

(Tucson, Arizona) Today, the Vail School District broke ground on the Vail Academy & High School, the district’s first K-12 school and the nation’s first K-12 school located at a university research park.

Vail High School began offering classes at the Tech Park in July 1997.  Vail Academy (K-8) will join the already established Vail High School at a new site in the Tech Park.  The 34,000 square foot facility is scheduled to open in July 2010. 

The K-12 school will house 225 K-8 students and 225 high school students.  Each grade level will accommodate approximately 25 students.  The small class size provides an interactive environment where students receive personal attention.  The K-12 model allows the curriculum to build on the previous grades' teaching, which provides a consistent educational foundation and the development of vast knowledge around important concepts.

Principal Dennis Barger explained that, “Part of the focus of the new K-8 Academy will be to prepare kids for Vail High School.  We plan on having a strong academic program and will emphasize math, science, and engineering.” 

Vail High School and the Tech Park have developed an innovative program that offer students real-world business experience by way part-time employment, internships and through a variety of other special programs with Tech Park companies. 

“The new school will provide opportunities for even the youngest of students to see science and technology as approachable, understandable and fun.  That means our youth have an opportunity that few others in the country do – to see the world of technology not as something that is mysterious and remote, but as a welcoming environment where they can be involved in many different ways,” stated Bruce Wright, UA Associate Vice President for University Research Parks.

The partnership between the UA Tech Park and Vail School District exemplifies the close connection between the world of education and the world of science and technology.  Already the home to Vail High School, UA South and Pima Community College, the UA Tech Park is about to achieve a national milestone:  When Vail Academy opens its doors this fall, the Tech Park will be the only university research park in the country to serve students from kindergarten through college graduation.

Vail High School has been educating students since 1997.  It has been home to students who have won state championships and national championships.  Vail High School is involved in the F.I.R.S.T. Robotics program and has won a Golden Bell.  After 13 years at its current location and four consecutive years of being labeled an Excelling School by the Arizona Department of Education it is relocating and adding grades K-8 as its Academy.  To learn more visit our new website at http://vahs.vail.k12.az.us.

UA Tech Park contributes nearly $2.5 billion annually to Pima County’s economy and is one of the region’s largest employment centers hosting 38 business and educational organizations and employing more than 7,000 people. The Tech Park has been nationally recognized as one of the premier university research parks in North America.  For more information about the Tech Park visit www.uatechpark.org.