Lima City Schools staff members and students hold a groundbreaking Monday for two new buildings.
Precious Grundy | The Lima News
LIMA — An old plot of land is being repurposed for something new. Lima City Schools is expanding its Ag and Outdoor Occupations and Engineering Technology program for students. The site of the expansion is the previous location of the Emerson Elementary School, 650 E. Edwards St. Lima City Schools held a groundbreaking Monday morning for its new beginning.
“This is our already existing programs and engineering,” Superintendent Jill Ackerman said. “This allows us to expand space so we are able to have large equipment on site to work on.”
Ackerman also said the school will construct a greenhouse for students to grow produce on the campus and potentially sell the harvest to community members.
“This new chapter is also coming home to a wonderful neighborhood that has strong roots in the Lima City Schools,” Ackerman said. “The Emerson building was built in 1951 and remained open for students until 2004 when the district underwent the state building project. The Emerson students moved to the new Independence School. The building remained until it was torn down in 2017. Today, we break ground for a campus that will bring learning and the Lima City School students back to this wonderful place.”
According to a recent press release, the hope is for the buildings to be available for the 2024-25 school year.
“The Ag building will provide space for the larger equipment, and the engineering building will include classroom open spaces as well as a conference room,” Ackerman said. “We know there are many job opportunities connected to both of these programs. The campus will allow a space to introduce all these disciplines to give them the instructions and the experiences they need to become successful in ag or engineering, whatever field that they choose.”
The school applied for a grant to fund the project. Ackerman said the school did not have to use any district funding.
“As our career tech programs continue to grow, (including adding the ag program in 2020) we knew we needed more space than we currently have at the high school,” Ackerman said. “We knew there was so much more we could offer our students if we just had some more space. That is when we began thinking about the future and what we could do to continue to grow these programs and offer meaningful experiences. Then the obvious answer was here at Emerson.”
Reach Precious Grundy at 567-242-0351.
