‘A place where lions can roar’: Waco ISD breaks ground on new $141M Waco High School campus

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - The Waco Independent School District on Friday broke ground on the new $141-million Waco High School, launching construction work on the new 350,000 square feet campus that will be able to accommodate up to 2,150 students when it opens in time for the 2025-26 school year.

“Well, our family has all been here at Richfield from the first graduating class and I was the last graduating class,” said Jackie Garland Brewer, a student of the old Richfield High School, the original name of the current campus before it was consolidated with Jefferson-Moore and Waco High School in 1986.

Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony was bittersweet for alumni like Garland. “If you go into the foyer, you see my dad’s class picture. You see my class picture,” she said.

And while some are sad to see the old campus go, others from the Waco High community looked on in excitement Friday as work to transform the school district’s flagship campus began.

“This is a 1961 facility that was really built just before President Kennedy talked about putting a man on the moon,” said Waco ISD Superintendent Dr. Susan Kincannon.

The school district said the new campus will not be built for size, rather, purpose. It will have more open spaces and glass walls between the classrooms to observe students.

“It’s a very safe and secure building, but the field is very visible,” Kincannon said.

Among those in attendance at Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony was Gray Television CEO Hilton Howell, who graduated from Waco High School in 1980.

Howell said he is proud Waco voters approved the $355-million bond package that will help pay for the new campus, in addition to other new campuses.

“This is a huge investment for the future of this city, for this community, for this whole area,” Howell said.

DISCLOSURE: Gray Television is the owner and operator of KWTX TV in Waco, Texas.

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