Inside look at school district’s new STEAM building

Lone Peak High School holds open house at new facility for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics 

By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

Even teachers are learning some of the new equipment inside the science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics—or “STEAM”—building that opened in September at the Big Sky School District.  

Approved by voters in 2020, the $23.5 million facility includes the new front door to Lone Peak High School and expands the school district’s career-oriented offerings. Tied into Lone Peak’s International Baccalaureate program, sixth-to-tenth grade students can sample design technology, art and theater before specializing in one of those elective programs as high school juniors and seniors.  

On Sept. 29, the school district opened the new STEAM building to the public. School District Superintendent Dustin Shipman gave a brief speech to those in attendance. In Lone Peak High School’s 14 years, he said, there has been no comparable facility to allow this type of hands-on education for students.  

“We want them to be able to work with tools, seek out their passions and discover the many ways they can live their lives outside of the classroom and outside of Big Sky,” Shipman said.   

Dr. Shipman recognized leadership by school district trustees, Principal Marlo Mitchem and a few teachers for pushing to make the new facility possible.  

“At the end of the day, I’d love to take credit for this facility, but I can’t… Something like this is a testament to a community that has the courage to dream big for our students… This is the fulfillment of a big dream, not just for us but for our students. And I can’t be more excited about the time they’re going to spend in this facility,” Shipman said. 

Andrew Blessing, technology director, played a key role in making the project possible. At the open house, he showed off the new design technology lab—four connected rooms host video production and broadcasting, podcasting, computer-aided design (CAD), welding and pipe-cutting, metalworking and woodworking.  

“So we can take up to 18 inch-by-18 inch blocks of aluminum, and basically carve them into whatever shape we want,” Blessing said, showing off a computer numerical control (CNC) milling machine. He held up a small aluminum block milled into a lego shape, designed in CAD by a seventh-grade student.  

“You go from design to machining, all in the same software. Right now the kids are in the design phase, but they’ll learn how to use the machine, too,” he said. Right next to the milling machine, Blessing pointed to a metal lathe for carving aluminum into cylindrical shapes.  

Both milling and lathe machines “are, like, the industry standards. Kids who come in here and learn these skills—it’s a truly marketable skill [for an] internship [or] a technical school to learn further. But honestly, they could be walking into jobs,” Blessing said. Of course, those skills extend beyond just metal work.  

In his years with BSSD, Blessing has been passionate about building a program for career and technology education. He said this was a seven-year project, and he’s thrilled to see it in action. Before the STEAM building’s construction, the design technology program lacked resources.  

“We had an old classroom that we had a few hand tools in. And we were trying to do our best. But this is really the first true shop that’s ever been part of this school,” he said.  

And Blessing, a computer specialist and homegrown woodworker, now has access to sophisticated tools—some of which are new to him.  

“The welding stuff—that’s not in anybody’s wheelhouse yet, so we’re gonna learn. ‘Cause I love learning, and these kids love learning. And if we learn together, that’s even better—as long as we’re safe, we can learn together,” Blessing said.

Blessing showed off a CNC router, which follows a CAD design to engrave wood. Students learn to ‘measure twice, cut once’ as they improve their computer design skills.  

“To be quite honest, it’s part of what we teach these kids,” Blessing said. “There’s a design process iterating the design. We have a lot of failures, and then we learn from our mistakes, and we change settings, and we try again, right? Nothing goes the first time.” 

He demonstrates school projects on his instructional YouTube channel, and students can review his step-by-step instruction videos on the TV in the woodshop. In one video, Blessing demonstrated the CNC router, a final decorative step in a recent student project involving various woodworking skills to construct a wooden box. As part of the design technology program, students can learn how to create instructional videos of their own.  

“We’re just having fun, we’re trying to teach them to take a risk and not take yourself too seriously when you’re doing stuff like [making] those videos,” he said.  

Once things are running smoothly, Blessing also envisions programs open to adults to take advantage of the school’s new shop toys.  

“We want to open this to the community,” he said.  

An art teacher’s dream 

Art Director Kate Riley said the new STEAM facility will help level-up Lone Peak’s art programs. 

“This is really a college-level art space, just a beautiful studio for our students to be creating in… It’s kind of a dream. You know, everything in this space is what an art teacher could dream of,” Riley said.  

She pointed out new resources for the program: an “incredible” darkroom, a ceramics room, “high-end” paper storage, adjustable-height desks for drawing and painting. The new design technology computer lab doubles as a studio for editing digital photography. 

“We’ve had photography before, but we have not been able to launch in a full digital lab before, so that’s gonna be pretty amazing,” Riley said.  

She added that the old art room was really dark, but pointed outside at “incredible light” shining through windows on two sides of the new classroom. 

“I just think we’re very fortunate,” she said. “I think our students are getting to understand what a privilege it is to work in such a beautiful space. And I think that ability to create bigger pieces of artwork is gonna be pretty profound for our kids.” 

Riley said Lone Peak’s International Baccalaureate program is special because it allows any willing students to build an art portfolio.  

“That’s pretty huge for a lot of kids, especially if you’re not an athlete—it opens a lot of doors,” she said. 

Space for the sound of music 

For music teacher Tim Sullivan, the biggest upgrade is space. He now has equipment storage, sound-proof practice rooms and a small production studio, and a classroom dedicated to loud noises with proper acoustic remedies—the old music room was untreated for sound and positioned beside history and Spanish classrooms.  

“Having the music room away from other classrooms is actually a huge upgrade to the program as well… I was limited in what I could teach. It was hard to have a band program in there, because it was loud,” Sullivan said.  

He showed off the “sound isolation” practice rooms. As he shut the door, he muffled the outside world.  

“It’s like an airpod, you know?” he said. “On top of that, students can record directly what they’re playing—they can hook up their computer and record in the room.”  

On the wall, a small AV panel allows for plug-ins. Sullivan also demonstrated the settings available. 

“So if I want to practice what it’s like to play the national anthem in the gym, I’ll go to the ‘Arena’ setting,” Sullivan said, and with the touch of a button, his voice took on a virtual echo in the closet-sized room. “So you can kind of get used to what different spaces will feel like before a performance.”  

He said music students have never had private space for self-directive learning, partner work, and extra practice outside of class time. The students can also learn and practice computer software for digital music production. 

With more storage, more classroom space and better sound control, Sullivan is excited to expand the marching band program.  

“Now that we have this space, we’re going to be able to get kids on [wind] instruments and really playing more confidently,” he said.  

Sullivan showed a rock band practice setup, where a drummer, guitarists and keyboard player could plug into a central soundboard and jam quietly, hearing each other through headphones. 

“It just feels more like a music room,” he said. “I just want to express my gratitude for being in a district that supports the arts program as much as they do. A community that values music and the arts, and it shows with the care and effort that was put into this place.”