The new Liberty Science Center High School in Jersey City will be a public magnet science, technology, engineering and math academy, opening as part of the Liberty Science Center’s 30-acre SciTech Scity development. — Courtesy: Liberty Science Center
By Joshua Burd
The Liberty Science Center has broken ground on a new high school at its large SciTech Scity development in Jersey City, where plans also call for an incubator facility and hundreds of apartments for scientists, students and other users at the site.
Known as Liberty Science Center High School, the public magnet science, technology, engineering and math academy is slated to open in 2025 across the street from the acclaimed museum and learning center. The facility’s leaders welcomed public officials and other dignitaries on Monday to mark the start of construction, touting the future high school’s impact on students aspiring for careers in the STEM fields, on diversifying those fields and on cementing the region’s and the state’s position as a center of scientific and technological discovery and innovation.
“This is one of the most important projects that we’re doing in Jersey City,” Mayor Steven Fulop said. “It will be transformational to not only Jersey City, but the entire region and New Jersey as a whole. We couldn’t be more excited to watch this project come to life.”
SLIDESHOW: Groundbreaking at Liberty Science Center
Fulop was among those on hand in fall 2021 to mark the start of the overall SciTech Scity project, which is redeveloping 30 acres across the street from LSC. The massive expansion of the Jersey City Boulevard campus is also slated to include an eight-story business incubation hub known as Edge Works, which will consist of a modern 40,000-square-foot conference center and tech exhibition gallery and a 60,000-square-foot component with labs, workspaces and co-working areas for dozens of startups.
Additionally, developer Alpine Residential is slated to build Scholars Village, a housing component meant to serve scientists, entrepreneurs, STEM graduate students and individuals and families who are part of the SciTech Scity community, according to a news release. Residents will have the opportunity to test important new high-tech products in their homes before the rest of the world.
Construction crews have completed site work for both Edge Works and Scholars Village.
The Hudson County Schools of Technology will operate the new high school, which will provide programs in sustainable engineering and climate science, biological sciences and astrophysics to 400 students in grades nine to 12 from across Hudson County. Students will also have access to have intensive mentorships and work experiences with the companies and scientists at SciTech Scity, which will also have four acres of public space for outdoor science-related activations.
“The school will get the next generation inspired and excited about science and engineering, and give them the skills they need to go out and succeed in the workplace,” said Paul Hoffman, CEO and president of Liberty Science Center. “It’s unique to have a school next to the largest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere…We want all companies that are based [in SciTech Scity] to give back to the high school by providing serious work experience and mentorship to students… Aspirationally, we want this to become the greatest STEM high school in the United States.”
LSC will also create preparatory programs for middle school students from underserved communities in Jersey City and Hudson County who are passionate about science and aspire to attend the new high school, according to a news release.
“This school is going to be epic. It’s an epic school for epic children,” said Laura Overdeck, an LSC board member and benefactor. “We may need them in the future to keep fighting climate change, to battle diseases we don’t know about yet, and to get a lasso around ChatGPT … Every time we open a school like this, we’re reminded what a 15-year-old can do with engineering and what a 17-year-old can do with a telescope.”
Liberty Science Center kicks off $300 million, mixed-use expansion in Jersey City