Seattle’s Aviation High School to move to Museum of Flight

Future students at Seattle’s Aviation High School will be attending classes at a new facility next to The Museum of Flight.

On March 26, the school received a $4 million donation from the James and Sherry Raisbeck Foundation, which will help build a permanent facility on land leased from the museum, which is at Boeing Field (BFI). The school’s approximately 400 students now have classes in an old elementary school several miles from the museum.

“Part of the reason the location was chosen is the school’s mentor program,” said Catherine Carbone Rogers, director of communications for the Highline School District, which oversees Aviation High School. “A lot of the mentors for our high school work in that area and this location makes it much easier for them to meet with the students. A skybridge will connect the high school to the museum so the students will be able to go over to the museum for educational programs.” ”

The new building will be three stories and approximately 60,000 square feet. Construction is expected to begin by June 2010, with classes starting there in 2012.

Construction costs are anticipated at $43.5 million, of which about $20 million has been raised through public and private sources.

For more information: AviationHS.org.