LIFT Regional Innovation Center" />
Mattoon school district's LIFT (Leaders Innovating for Tomorrow) houses a regional innovation center for the surrounding 28 school districts in the area. The six-story, 50,000 square foot center offers a variety of work-ready and leadership training programs.
This regional innovation and technology center is a central hub for students to prepare for college or careers straight out of high school. The facility has been designed to support programs for Communications, Childcare, Information Technology, HVAC/Green Energy, Manufacturing, Architecture & Construction, Leadership, Culinary Arts and Hospitality.
LIFT focuses on developing young adults by teaching leadership to every student, creating a culture of student empowerment, and aligning systems to drive results in academics.
Explore. Lead. LIFT.
Located at the heart of a small town that is rich in history, the 1928 building is a symbol of the community. Since 1975, the facility previously housed an innovative company that specialized in connecting others through technology and a workplace that valued collaboration and idea sharing.
Today, the iconic building and site provide the opportunity to serve future generations. With the ability to use the site virtually as it was, design focus was directed to renovating the inside. The facility is now a direct reflection of the values and efforts that lived within its walls for years prior, re-imagined to house a community of students from different backgrounds available to 28 school districts.
- Adaptive Reuse
- Leadership Training
- Work-ready Programming
- Serves 28 Regional Districts
- Hands-On Learning
- Makerspaces
“This space is beyond just a school, this is a regional center built and created to provide experiences for kids to put them on pathways that they never had opportunities to be on before.” - District Leader
The Prairie Central PK-4 Elementary school is an opportunity to unify elementary programming under one roof for the first time in district history. Not only will it mark a new location for educational programming in the district, it also will be planned to allow for future programming needs, including expansion to a PK-5 or PK-8 school in the distant future. The building is designed to support roughly 800 students with five smaller flexible environments or zones within the space.
Completed in 2022, the 11,519 s.f. gymnasium replacement consisted of all new flooring and paint work, bleachers, new basketball equipment, dedicated locker rooms, and new bathrooms. Environmental branding was added to the space, featuring the school colors throughout, as well as the school logo on the exterior of the building. Renovations were also done to the lobby, adding in environmental branding and creating a welcoming space for students, staff, and the community.
The Central Transportation Facility, located on an 8.9-acre site in Kinloch, Missouri, was one of three transportation facilities owned and operated by the Special School District of St. Louis County.