The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences & the Arts in Hot Springs announced Tuesday that the Oaklawn Foundation has awarded it a $300,000 grant for construction of a planned $4.5 million, 20,000-SF Creativity and Innovation Complex.
The school said the donation is the largest single gift in its history. The complex would be the first new academic building on campus since it opened in 1993.
The complex will have classroom and workspace for computer science and digital arts courses and an assembly space.
ASMSA joined the University of Arkansas system in 2004, and its board of trustees recently selected Harris Architects of Hot Springs to design the complex. Construction is set to start in mid-2017, with the opening expected at the beginning of the Spring 2019 semester.
The Oaklawn Foundation receives funding each year from Oaklawn Racing & Gaming in Hot Springs for programs and scholarships that benefit Garland County students and senior citizens.
“The board understands the mission and the goals of this school; they agree with it,” foundation board member Larry Stephens said in a news release. “They see that it has not only succeeded but exceeded [in] its goals. We felt like the future of this school is now. We felt like we wanted to be a part of the future, and we think what you’re doing is the future.”
ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice said the Oaklawn Foundation’s work has been “transformational” in the lives of many in Garland County.
“Their support sets the stage not only for the continued evolution of ASMSA’s campus but also is another step in the revitalization of downtown Hot Springs,” he said.
The school is the state’s only public residential high school specializing in the education of academically gifted juniors and seniors from across Arkansas. This year, students from 51 of Arkansas’ 75 counties are attending.
The Oaklawn Foundation grant is the latest of several gifts and grants supporting construction of the new complex.
The Dan Fredinburg Foundation made a $50,000 gift in the name of Dan Fredinburg, a 1999 ASMSA alumnus. Fredinburg was the head of privacy for Google X, the research and development facility for Google, when he died in 2015.
More than $100,000 has been raised since the Fredinburg Foundation’s gift was announced in April.
ASMSA has also received a $500,000 General Improvement Fund grant last year from Gov. Asa Hutchinson. The school said most of that will cover architect and engineering fees, with any leftover money going to construction.
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