Suitland High School in Prince George’s County, Maryland, is getting more than a face-lift — it’s getting a brand new campus where the current one sits.
County officials were on hand Thursday to celebrate the groundbreaking of the new facility. In addition to an academic complex, renderings of the new Suitland High School shows a performing arts theater and an athletics stadium.
“While many of you all know Suitland High School was built in 1951, the fact is that this building is long overdue,” Prince George’s County Public Schools CEO Dr. Monica Goldson said at the ceremony. “Seventy-year-old buildings is ridiculous.”
The current school building is 71 years old.
Kendall Nedd, a student in Suitland’s Center for the Visual and Performing Arts program, weighed in on what the new facility will mean to her and other students.
“To me, the environment helps shape how students perceive learning, how they perceive if they are wanted or not,” said Nedd, a rising junior.
She recalled her first days at the school.
“My first day walking into Suitland, I can remember going to bathrooms missing locks on the stalls and mirrors missing on the walls,” Nedd said.
State Sen. Joanne Benson, who had a hand in securing state funding for this project, said milestones like this happen “when you have people who work together putting aside foolishness and personal differences.”
The new Suitland High School will be constructed in phases starting this summer, and is expected to be fully completed by 2026.