Ankeny School District has released designs for upcoming Innovative Hub

ANKENY, Iowa – While students across Iowa are anticipating the first day of school, students in Ankeny have something else on their minds that will be waiting for them in a few years.

The Ankeny School District has unveiled plans for a new learning facility for high school students. The facility will be called the Innovative Hub. They plan to use the space to offer non-traditional opportunities in addition to some traditional courses.

“We may have a business professional come in and work with our students and mentor them. We may send students into business and do internships. We may even be able to offer some kind of partnership within the institution where a business is running and students are being educated at the same time. So it will look both like the high school you know and the high school you can only dream about right now,” said Samantha Aukes, chief communications officer for the Ankeny School District.

The district says logistics are still being determined, such as what hours the facility will be open and how much staff will be in the building, but they are currently designing the facility and curriculum.

The district plans to hold a bond referendum in 2025 to put the idea into action. If voters approve, the facility would be available in the 2028-2029 school year.

The district and DMACC signed a commitment letter to house the Innovative Hub on DMACC's Ankeny campus. Although that agreement is not final, the district says it would be an ideal location for the hub.

The lake on DMACC's campus provides the district with the opportunity to offer an aquatic ecology course through the center. This type of course is difficult to offer in a traditional school setting, so it offers new opportunities for Ankeny students.

Another possibility for the center is to teach students how to run a business by operating a cafe there. Aukes also said the district plans to use the center to offer students additional training in areas such as healthcare, law enforcement, government, etc.