Best Project, K-12 Education Against the Current Career Academy
Among the first projects of its kind to be built on Native American reservation lands, the $18-million Against the Current Career Academy enables students at Umonhon Nation Public Schools to learn hands-on jobs while attending high school. The new career and technical education facility represents UNPS’s response to years of deep-rooted academic challenges and chronic unemployment within the broader tribal community. The academy is built onto the existing UNPS school and features a pathways model, giving students the option to choose from career tracks including CNA/nursing, culinary arts, construction, automotive, entrepreneurship/business and early childhood education.
The new space—the largest of its kind in northeast Nebraska—features a 300-seat auditorium, an infant and toddler day care, a store devoted to school merchandise and local artists/vendors, a café and six professional-quality career laboratories. Additional space includes four flexible classrooms, new administrative offices, a board room, restrooms, an elevator and building tie-ins across both levels of the existing school.