HOT SPRINGS – Students at Hot Springs will have a new space for art classes, featuring two classrooms in a new building once the fall rolls around.

Construction is underway at Hot Springs High School as a new art building for students will be go up during the summer.

When completed the building will be a 2,800 square foot structure featuring two separate classrooms for teachers and students at the school.

According to Hot Springs School District Superintendent Kevin Meredith, the school’s old art room was in a building, formerly used as a laundry room, acquired by the district around 30 years ago.

“It’s not a super conducive classroom environment,” Meredith said.

With this in mind, the school began exploring options regarding a new building for their art rooms a few years ago, with the hopes of providing students with a more appropriate and comfortable learning area.

This initial exploration led the school district to receive a $20,000 planning grant to assist in getting the proposed project off the ground.

The grant came from the Quality Schools Grant Program within the Community Development Division of the Montana Department of Commerce.  

This state program provides facility, technology and emergency grants, in addition to the aforementioned planning grants, to public schools throughout the state of Montana.

Funding for these grants comes directly from the timber harvested on common school trust lands and rental income received from power site leases across the state.

Using this grant the school was able to come up with the forthcoming structure, moving their students from an outdated classroom to a brand new learning space.

The new art building will be split into two distinct spaces for the students of Hot Springs.

Half of the building will be devoted to an art room, which will feature a kiln and storage space, in addition to learning space for the classes. The other section of the building is slated to be a family and consumer sciences room, a course that was called home economics for many of the parents of current students.

The FCS room will feature four distinct kitchen spaces, each with its own stove, where students will be able to learn the ins and outs of preparing  and cooking food.

In addition to the state grants to plan the project, Hot Springs schools were able to receive additional grant money from the Montana Department of Commerce to build the structure, expediting the process of getting students out of the older learning spaces and into new classrooms.

In addition to funding the construction of the art building, some of the grant money will go towards updating current features of the school’s campus.

Meredith noted the school was looking to remedy their drainage issues. This would be accomplished through new sidewalks and potentially paving the school’s gravel parking lot.

The new art building should be ready by the time Hot Springs schools open their doors in the fall of this year, giving students some excitement as summer draws to a close and the school year begins anew.