Bullis School students take part in the groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for the school's Gerald L. Boarman Discovery Center, via Bullis School
Leaders of Bullis School on Monday celebrated the groundbreaking of the Potomac private school’s 67,000-square-foot Gerald L. Boarman Discovery Center, a state-of-the-art building that will include “fab labs,” group study areas, a multi-use theater, video conferencing equipment and a new student café.
The school, home to more than 800 students in grades two through 12, has raised almost all of the $27 million needed for the project from private donors, according to Susie Zimmermann, the school’s director of communications. Bullis also received a $38 million bond from Montgomery County that it will have to pay back to help finance the project
Tuesday’s groundbreaking event doubled as a school assembly, with students sitting on the spot where the Discovery Center is set to be built over the next two years.
The center will include 10 classrooms and 11 science labs, increasing the school’s classroom space by 50 percent, a rooftop terrace that may be used for classes and social gatherings, a new school store, and the 225-seat multi-use theater that can be used for lectures, ceremonies or drama performances.
It’s also meant to enhance the school’s efforts in STEM education (science, technology, engineering and math).
The “fab lab,” or fabrication lab, will have space for metal working, robotics, woodworking and digital production and house tools including laser printers and CNC routers—a computer-controlled cutting machine that produces door carvings, sign boards, wooden frames and other pieces.
Construction is scheduled to be completed in spring 2017.
The project also includes a second turf field for the school, which already has a turf field at Kline Alumni Stadium.
Correction: This story incorrectly stated that the new turf field planned for Bullis School would replace its existing field. The new turf field will be built in addition to the existing turf field at Kline Alumni Stadium.
Video via Bullis School
