Warren County Public School leaders and administrators toss sod at the Impact Center's Monday groundbreaking. Last month, the district also broke ground on a new Warren Elementary School facility set to open in 2025.

You’ve likely seen Warren County Public School billboards around town declaring “Something big is coming.”

That “something” was revealed Monday to be the district’s new Impact Center for Leadership and Innovation.

Local and state leaders joined teachers and students for the grand reveal and groundbreaking of the “state-of-the-art facility” the district said will provide generations of students access to advanced vocational training.

WCPS Board of Education Chairperson Gary Chaffin said the facility and the students who come through it will benefit all of Warren County by turning teens into workforce leaders.

“In my day job, I’m in the mechanical business. We strive and look for people every day and it’s hard to find those employees – we hear that in construction in every aspect, we hear that in every job,” Chaffin said. “We need people, and today we help bring into fruition what Kentucky has been preaching for years.”

The Impact Center at 830 Cumberland Trace Road will function similarly to a vocational education center for students in grades nine through 12. Superintendent Rob Clayton said they are also considering instruction for seventh- and eighth-graders.

Classes will use competency-based grading rather than standard A through F grades. Students will receive a list of standardized expectations within different courses and will be graded on how they meet each standard.

The facility will offer industry certifications and micro-credentials – short, competency-based recognitions focused on high-need sectors in many STEM fields.

Clayton said the majority of students at the facility will spend most of their day in the building rather than splitting time with their residing school, though the district has not yet made concrete instruction plans.

He added that students will still be able to enjoy extracurricular activities at their residing school even if they’re mostly at the center.

The building’s completion is still some years away, Clayton said, and thus the programs offered could change considerably. He said there will be engineering, entrepreneurship and medical arts pathways, among others as they become available.

Districts across the country, including WCPS, have faced growing staff shortages for years, but Clayton said community partnerships and recruitment will continue to play a vital role in filling positions.

Clayton said the district will be leaning on partnerships with local businesses and industry leaders, along with Western Kentucky University and Southcentral Kentucky Community & Technical College.

Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman congratulated the district on the “big and bold investment” made in education through the center. She added that now is the time to invest as Kentucky experiences historic economic growth to which Bowling Green is no stranger.

“In order to capitalize on this opportunity and this economic investment, we must prepare our future entrepreneurs and leaders for these jobs of the future,” Coleman said. “That’s where schools like this come in.”

Coleman said almost every district is trying to innovate in different ways, but the creation of the Impact Center is a “new idea” to her. She said the facility will eliminate barriers to a host of career pathways that students may otherwise miss.

She added that eliminating those barriers in Bowling Green and Warren County – what she called “the epicenter” of Kentucky’s growth – is crucial to future success.

“Over the last few years, (Kentucky) has seen $26 billion worth of private sector investments, 50,000 new jobs created, No. 2 in the nation in economic development, No. 3 in the nation in rural job development,” Coleman said. “We cannot sustain that type of unparalleled growth and success if we don’t have a strong public education system.”