On August 27, Perry Township Schools and the University of Indianapolis officially broke ground on the future home of Perry Township’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program.

The groundbreaking marks another major step forward for the program, which is already underway in temporary space on the University of Indianapolis campus. The permanent facility will give Perry Township students a space designed specifically around the hands-on, career-connected learning happening within the program.

Students, staff, district leaders, university leaders and community partners gathered on the UIndy campus to celebrate the start of construction and what the new facility will make possible for students.

The center will include classrooms, collaborative spaces, makerspaces, presentation areas and four specialized learning studios. Each space is being designed to give students more opportunities to create, build, test ideas, solve real-world problems and work alongside professionals.

But students are not waiting for the building to be finished to get started.

Perry Township students are already participating in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program on the UIndy campus, helping shape what the program will become. That includes taking part in hands-on learning experiences and even helping develop the identity of the program, with students currently working through the process of naming it.

For those students, August 27 was a chance to stand on the site of a building that will eventually become home to a program they helped shape from the beginning.

Construction will continue as the program grows in its temporary space at UIndy, giving students a front-row seat as their future learning environment takes shape.