Big expansion gets underway for Tri-City’s smallest high school. Here’s the $3.2M plan

Over the howl of rolling winds and gusts, hundreds turned out Monday to watch Tri-Cities Prep High School break ground on a $3.2 million expansion that will erect six new classrooms, including a state-of-the-art biology lab.

The event marked an exciting turn for the region’s only private catholic high school, located at 9612 St. Thomas Drive in Pasco, Washington.

Father Lourdu Mummadi led a prayer and blessed the land before administrators, school board members and students dug their shovels into the dirt, marking the project’s beginning.

Incoming Tri-Cities Prep School Board Chair Jason Sweesy, also a parent, said the project is about getting everyone under one roof since some students are being served in portable classroom buildings and its multi-purpose room.

Half of the six new classrooms will open this fall. The other three will open in the future, pending future fundraising efforts.

“It’s a community need and want to attend a school like Tri-Cities Prep that has that community feel and high academic standards,” he said.

In an era of plateauing public school enrollment, private schools like Tri-Cities Prep have seen a boost in enrollment and interest from parents looking for alternative learning environments for their kids. Much of that interest was triggered by in-person learning disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic and shifting sentiments around public schools.

Tri-Cities Prep, which has 216 students currently enrolled, saw double-digit percentage increases during the pandemic years. The Pasco school expects to be a few students shy of its 240 enrollment cap next year, which could mean a more competitive admissions process for students.

“People that maybe didn’t look at us before were calling us to see if they could send their students to Prep,” President Lisa Jacobs said of the pandemic. She added later: “For so many years we had to work so hard for every kid we got. Now, for the first time, we’re really experiencing a wait list.”

Jacobs said they serve a diverse slice of the Tri-Cities community. About half the student population is on some form of tuition assistance, and about 40% identify as Hispanic-Latino or as a non-Caucasian race.

“We want to graduate students who are ready for the next phase of their life,” Jacobs said. “They know what it’s like to be part of a community, what it means to give back, help others, manage their time and they know how to study and communicate with others.”

Tri-Cities Prep history

Tri-Cities Prep was founded three decades ago, in 1994, as a private, independent, co-educational school approved by the bishops of both the Spokane and Yakima dioceses.

The nonprofit school offers college-prepatory academics to students in grades 9th-12th in a faith-centered environment. It does not receive any public funding, but is approved by the Washington State Board of Education and Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Its current one-floor high school was built in 1999 and has seven classrooms. The school has added two portable building units for an additional three classrooms, and plans to remove those after its expansion.

This expansion is the largest the 26-acre campus has seen in its 25 years of operation.

Tri-Cities Prep began filing permits more than a year ago for this project.

Plans to build an auxiliary gymnasium, activities center, performance arts building and additional parking were also included in the documents, which would altogether double the school’s facilities by adding another 83,000 square feet. Jacobs says those projects are still years out, though, and have not been fundraised.

Administrators also want to expand athletic facilities by installing a new football field and stands, bleachers for the softball and baseball fields, stadium lights and a concessions stand.

Tri-Cities Prep has raised about half the $3.2 million needed to expand its classrooms by way of private donations. Fundraising efforts are ongoing, and staff hope to raise the remaining $1.6 million by the end of summer.

Mountain States Construction Company is school’s general contractor for this project.

“These classrooms will not only accommodate our growth in enrollment, but will bring our entire student body out of portable classrooms and under one roof, providing a cohesive learning environment that is safe and secure,” Jacobs said.