On the Worcester Public Schools official first day of school, students walked through the doors of their new Doherty Memorial High School. For most it was their first time in the school, but many had been through the school previously as an active construction site, since the building has, for the entirety of the life of the project, been used as a “Living Lab” for students to learn about careers in the architectural, engineering, and construction industries.

The initial meeting to kick off the design of the project was in May of 2019, and now the 1,569-student school is 424,600 square feet and is the most energy efficient municipal building in Worcester. The design was coming together at the same time the City was finalizing its Green Worcester Plan, which pushed the already ambitious sustainability goals for the project even further.

The new school was designed to enable the addition of three new vocational programs:  marketing and finance, programming and web development, and construction craft laborer. This was in addition to an Advanced Biotechnology Academy and the existing Engineering Technology Academy, which now has the expanded space and capacity it needs.

The academic spaces are twice what they were in the previous Doherty building and the cafeteria, auditorium, media center, and physical education spaces are expansive, modern, and well positioned for year-round, community use.

A dedication ceremony scheduled for next month will provide an opportunity for more community members to experience the new Doherty High in person.