Skip Main Links
Rendering of a outdoor high school courtyard of a multistory building with seating areas and lush landscaping.
South El Monte High School Modernization

Modernized Campus Gives Students Career-Focused Opportunities

Client

South El Monte Union High School District

Project Location

El Monte, CA

Size

174,500 SF

Students

1,300

South El Monte High School was originally built in 1992 to serve the growing South El Monte community. Our modernization of South El Monte High School achieves the desired future-ready learning environment that is focused on technological and career-ready needs of students. Our design enhances the educational effectiveness of future-ready learning programs within the school’s current curriculum and within the existing campus buildings shell. Flexible spaces create authentic, active, and hands-on learning experiences. The library transforms into a media center that is the centerpiece of the modernization, which includes maker spaces and a video editing media lab.

Re-configuring an under-utilized building on campus allows for innovative CTE spaces that reflect real-world work environments. The pathways within the CTE building provide a new outlook on traditional CTE spaces by emphasizing coding, leadership, manufacturing, and product design.

The campus modernization spans 15 buildings. These buildings include seven CTE spaces: advanced manufacturing, robotics, carpentry, health science, coding, product design, and business. Every space on campus is uniquely updated for its intended educational outcome. Lenticular graphics along wood-lock walls and broadloom carpet decorate the theater for a modern and artful space. The robotics room features luxury vinyl tile that is both practical and aesthetically pleasing. Our experiential graphics design team implemented graphics correlating to each CTE space. Classrooms were made bigger without undergoing intensive construction or expansion to the building. Upgrades to the central cooling tower, new air conditioning in the gym, and efficient kitchen cooling systems improved teaching and learning conditions. Landscaping updates allow the campus to be more drought resistant, which decreases water usage and maintenance. All doors and hardware on campus were switched to a safe and secure wireless automatic lockdown system.

The exteriors of the buildings do not permit structural changes, instead paint and experiential graphic services have created a more inspiring exterior façade. Our XGD team created customized murals and rebranded the school, making their motto “Onward and Upward” stand out throughout the design. Through various workshops with the administrators and educators, our designers created teacher collaboration areas transforming how staff plan, interact, and work together.

Contact Us

Contact Us

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

;