As students head back to school.

We're already looking ahead to next August when a new opportunity opens here in Warren County.

It's called the impact Center, and leaders say it will go beyond the conventional classroom.

Our Laura Rogers learns more about its curriculum and real world approach to prepare students for the future.

As we go on the road.

Everyone's excited because one is right on the interstate, which was a brilliant move.

And so everybody is like, what's that cool building that's going up?

That building will be the impact center for Leadership and Innovation, a new venture for Warren County Public Schools opening in August 2026.

We're really focused on authentic learning, getting it out into the community, getting kids out into the work based learning experiences, but also bringing those experiences here into our facility.

The center will offer five academies and 18 career pathways, nearly all of them based on workforce projections.

Kids can participate in things like artificial intelligence, aeronautics, which has drone and pilot pathways inside of it, precision machining, automation, robotics, media arts, digital design, media.

The artificial intelligence pathway will be the first of its kind in Kentucky.

It's being developed with input and support from IBM and MIT.

And so really trying to be forward thinking across all of our sectors and create a robust, amazing experience for our students.

So they're really prepared.

It's a partnership between the school district and the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce, along with Franklin.

So Franklin Covey organization has had internally what they called project 100.

So they wanted to partner to build a school that 100,000 other schools would want to emulate.

Meredith Rosen Gates has a global ambassador for Franklin Covey's Leader and me model, set out on a quest for where that school should be located.

She came back and said it need to be here in Bowling Green, Kentucky, because it was the only place where the relationship with the business community existed.

To the extent that it does here, students will get meaningful hands on instruction and ultimately the opportunity to solve real world problems.

Think about the relevance that it interjects in that learning process.

Instead of sitting there in a class wondering why am I learning this?

You get that hands on application of this is why I need to know this, and this is how I'm going to use it going forward.

When the school opens next year, initial plans are to welcome about 1000 students in grades seven through ten and 600 juniors and seniors, based on both a lottery and merit based process.

That would give us about 1600 total starting out of students impacted.

But we also want to make sure that every kid that wants to come has the ability to come in some capacity, whether that's summer programing, after school programing before school programing.

So we're really dedicated to making sure that kids that want to be here want to take part in our programing, have a chance at some point in their career.

Students can begin to apply for enrollment in mid September.

For Kentucky edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

Thank you Laura.

Students will also be able to earn college credit and an associate's degree, along with leadership credentials and certificates.