Roughly one year ago, Durango School District opened the Impact Center. Despite it’s opening, this building seemed to be under the radar for a while, with multiple things like the Miller Middle School making it seem untouchable. Now, once again, we can officially use this building for ourselves. But what exactly is the purpose for this building and how can we use it?
The Impact Center is a pinnacle of modern technology and was designed to be a versatile center of technology. But what sets this building apart from everything else? In an interview with the director of the Impact Center, Nathan Van Arsdale, he said that, “the building presents itself as a professional environment,” and “It gives students the ability to collaborate.” Because the impact center is a professional environment, it’s designed to help students get used to a workplace environment.
So now that the purpose has been exposed, who is allowed to use it? According to Van Arsdale, the short answer is, anyone! Anyone can reserve the Impact Center. Whether it’s a teacher reserving it for an engineering project, a student reserving it for a capstone project, or a culinary class using it to mimic a restaurant environment, the Impact Center offers a lot of opportunity. This is what makes the Impact Center so unique. It has a different level of versatility that no other building in the town has. In a conversation with Durango High School principal Jon Hoerl, he said, “We like to have exposure for our different levels of courses, it’s not just CTE that can access it.”
The Impact Center is a marvel of engineering and promotes collaboration, but some people feel as if it has not lived up to its vision. While talking to Morgan Kraska, she had some thoughts on how we could make the Impact Center thrive as a place of learning and collaboration. While talking to her, she said that we should really just try and get more students into the building more often.. She also quoted that we should, “Maybe find a way for businesses to be there more often.” The Impact Center has so much potential, but because of limitations in scheduling, it is not currently being used to the fullest.
Overall, the Impact Center has the potential to make a massive impact on our community. Between the solar powered air-ducts and versatile sliding doors, it really stands out as a pinnacle of architecture in the community. As the programming continues to grow, we hope to see the impact it can make on our school and our community.
