Innovative Education: Pine Springs High School Aims to Bridge School and Career
Charter School Aims to Create School-to-Career Pipeline for Life Sciences
Update: Holly Springs Town Council approved the rezoning request on December 17, 2024. The next step is a review of the development plan that must be approved by the town council.
Pine Springs Academy wants to train students to become future employees in the life sciences industry. Plans are in the works to build Pine Springs High School, allowing students to complete their entire grade school education within the charter school academy.
Pine Springs' Head of School, Bruce Friend, joined by supporters, spoke before the planning board on November 20th in the hope of getting past the first hurdle to get the school built.
Friend explained that the high school, which will hold 1000 students, will have a curriculum designed to create a school-to-career pipeline to the life science and biomedical businesses within Holly Springs. The new school will be built along Green Oaks Parkway in the business park across from CSL Seqirus. Currently, Amgen financially supports a biotech laboratory at Holly Springs High School. The facility for Amgen is under construction and should open sometime in 2025.
Friend told the HSDD that the idea for the high school came from a demand from parents to build a high school. The Academy has spent the past two years trying to determine if the high school could be feasible.
During the meeting, planning board members asked about traffic management plans. Friend, along with an Academy employee, laid out various ideas including a staggered start time to reduce the number of people arriving on-campus in the morning. HSDD also asked Friend about athletic programs, and he said that they are in the plans and “details on this will emerge as we finalize site plans.”
The planning board approved the rezoning request to allow for the school to be built in the park. The school project must now go before the town council for final rezoning approval. If everything goes as planned, Pine Springs High School will open in Fall 2026.