WHAT’S NEW: MURRAY INNOVATION CENTER

MMURRAY INNOVATION CENTER BY AMBER IRIZARRY, COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST

MPCS offers families a holistic approach to education, focused on four core values: being Christ-Centered, Learning Focused, Community Oriented, Pursuers of Excellence. These core values are manifested in tangible form with the recent unveiling of the Murray Innovation Center (MIC) high school expansion, supported by the Stuart and Eulene Murray Foundation. The MIC has been thoughtfully designed to be a purposeful educational facility, housing radical spaces to learn, test, collaborate, grow, and “think outside the box.” With technology and STEAM-related industries booming, it has become clear that stu-

A PLACE FOR EXCELLENCE

dents must be equipped to tackle real-world problems. Critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication are being nurtured within the new center, which opened January 2022.

Through the architectural design process, Mount Paran Christian School thoughtfully evaluated the current buildings on campus, as well as the needs for future learners, resulting in new spaces that provide for enhanced programming and instruction. In a student-led design process, the final architectural plans for the MIC kept the four MPCS core values in mind.

“THIS NEW LEARNING AND COLLABORATIVE SPACE AFFORDS OUR STUDENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO DISCOVER NEW PASSIONS, SOLVE PROBLEMS FOR OUR COMMUNITY, AND IMPACT THE WORLD AS CHRISTIAN LEADERS. THE ABUNDANCE OF BLESSINGS THAT WILL FLOW FROM THIS SPACE IS LIMITLESS, AS

IS OUR CHILDREN’S POTENTIAL.” — Head of Upper School, Mrs. Tawanna Rusk

MURRAY INNOVATION CENTER

The GRAHAM COMMONS, supported by a gift from the Graham Family Foundation, is an open, multi-use space available for classes, meetings, and events. The Graham Commons takes full advantage of natural light and views of Lake McDonald on campus, with an architectural cross focal feature on the main window. The Graham Commons also provides indooroutdoor café seating for Roost.

Students were heavily involved in the MIC design process and were passionate about bringing attention to God’s creation and the school’s picturesque campus, as well as including spaces for building community. An outdoor quad achieves both goals with a built-in hardscape amphitheater seating for classes and events.

Graham Commons

The new Murray Innovation Center building was dedicated in January 2022.

Fabrication Lab THE DIGITAL LAB is designed as a space to inspire students through collaborative instruction and creation of innovative ideas. The state-of-the-art room is outfitted with dual monitor design stations for CAD and CAM design work for engineering, business, and computer science courses.

THE MAKER SPACE is a STEM classroom for tinkering and exploring the mechanics of ideas generated in the digital lab. Equipment allows for low-dust prototyping with electronics/soldering workstations, 3D printers, a laser cutter/engraver, and a desktop CNC milling machine, in addition to the dedicated area for the Eagle Robotics field.

Graham Commons and Café Space Science Labs

THE FABRICATION LAB provides space

for the final step in the engineering design process, where students finalize the construction of ideas. The room includes equipment and materials necessary to build a final product, such as a CNC router for computer-controlled wood cutting and an array of power tools for manufacturing work in wood, foam, plastic, and metal with dedicated dust collection.

THE NEW SCIENCE LABS offer improved

layouts for student experiences; a lab prep room for safe and necessary storage for chemicals, lab materials, and glassware; fume hoods for the safe ventilation of chemicals; flexible furniture for the easy transition from classroom to lab space; and blackout shades for optics experiments (lenses, mirrors, spectra, lasers).

THE T.E.A.L. ROOM (Technology Enhanced Active Learning) is modeled in the collegiate style with five A/V screens and collaborative group seating. Additional new classroom spaces are designed to accommodate any discipline with flexible seating and arrangement. A SEMINAR ROOM provides a quiet space for student study, prayer, and discipleship and is home to the Paige Johnson Devotional Library.

STUDY NOOKS AND LOUNGES abound

throughout the MIC, including a laptop bar with device charging stations. A glass bridge connects the MIC with Dozier Hall.

ROOST is the student-run MPCS coffee company, in partnership with alumni-owned Apotheos Roastery in Kennesaw. “Brewed with a Purpose,” Roost offers a refrigeration counter for food display, Bunn brewer, kitchen prep, and point-of-sale counter with separate pickup area. The space equips high school entrepreneurship classes with tools designed for business instruction. The model also refined course programming in personal finance, business management, and marketing. W

MORE THAN ALL WE ASKED OR IMAGINED

MPCS is eternally grateful to the faithful donors who generously supported the Imagine Tomorrow Capital Campaign for the Murray Innovation Center. Supporters of the campaign not only helped build the MIC, but they also funded renovations to Dozier Hall and the new visual art gallery in the Murray Arts Center. Through these new and renovated spaces, may hearts, minds, and our world be transformed for Christ. W

Dozier Hall Renovation

Visual Art Studio in the MAC

Visual Art Gallery