Newly unveiled renovations at Apex accelerate post-high school success

A showy new entryway that foreshadows exciting, updated learning spaces inside, greeted students and teachers at Apex as they returned from Winter Break this month, thanks to renovations provided by the Building for Student Success program. 

Inside the reimagined entrance is a spacious lobby with places for students to gather and socialize; a space for industry partners to connect with students and teachers; and the future home of the school’s new “geek squad.” This tech support storefront will be a customer service element of the new Computer Science program getting ready to boot up in 2026-27. 

Students in the Biomedical Sciences, Sports Medicine, Emergency Medical Technician, Criminal Justice and Teacher Academy programs are starting the second semester in larger, updated, professional-feeling new labs and classrooms. The renovated spaces feature areas beyond the traditional lecture-style learning as well as settings for hands-on experiences. They are designed to emulate the professional work environments that students will encounter when they move into careers.

We worked extensively with professionals from Avista Hospital, Boulder Community Hospital, and Front Range Community College who gave us guidance on furniture, materials, and equipment as well as important skills—like phlebotomy—that students should learn.

According to Apex principal Ming Scheid, both the new learning spaces and the design of new programs coming online in 2026-27 were created with significant input from industry professionals. 

“We worked extensively with professionals from Avista Hospital, Boulder Community Hospital, and Front Range Community College who gave us guidance on furniture, materials, and equipment as well as important skills—like phlebotomy—that students should learn,” Scheid explained. 

“We wanted to build these programs with partners from the start to create strong connections and generate buy-in.”

In 2026-27, Apex’s health-related career cluster will expand to include Medical Assisting, Pharmacy Technician, and Behavioral Health. 

Bond dollars are helping students graduate with more

This work all dovetails with BVSD’s Career and Technical Education (CTE)  master plan which was created in 2023. The plan—coupled with funding from the Building for Student Success bond program—aims to expand opportunities for learning experiences that do more to prepare students for college and careers. At Apex, this means expanding and updating spaces for existing programs and creating new spaces to support new programs. Bond investments are also expanding and enhancing CTE spaces at high schools and middle schools across the district. 

CTE learning fulfills multiple quadrants of BVSD’s Grad+ framework that supports students in graduating with more than just a high school diploma. For example, through the new Pharmacy Technician program, Apex students can earn a Pharmacy Technician Certificate or Pharmaceutical Sciences Associates degree from Front Range Community College. Thanks to an articulation agreement with Regis University, students could then pursue an advanced degree down the road. A newly created space at Apex supports this career path with a new space that mimics the physical features of a pharmacy to give students the feel of working in a hospital or retail pharmacy setting. When they are ready, students can move into real world environments thanks to partnerships with businesses like King Soopers and Walgreens.  

Creating connections

Along with enhancing learning spaces, the renovation project reorganized a significant portion of the building’s floorplan to create career clusters for the pathways offered by Apex and to provide dedicated, contiguous space for Arapahoe Ridge High School and Boulder Universal, the other BVSD programs housed in the building. 

For Apex, clustering programs by related career pathways allows students to share related resources and to create community around common interests. For example, other recently completed features of the renovation include a “body room” that houses the school’s SynDaver (synthetic cadaver) and Anatomage (a 3D digital rendering of a human body) and a clinical exam room—spaces that will benefit several of the health-related pathways. 

Scheid noted the benefits of learning spaces that are intentionally designed to support specific learning. The renovated Emergency Medical Technician space includes both a classroom area and medical bays where students can practice hands-on skills. Double doors from the classroom lead to an outdoor learning patio where a donated ambulance is parked. Students can respond to emergency scenarios, loading and unloading patients from the ambulance, and transferring them to ER bays. The outside learning area also includes a rock field where students can learn wilderness rescue skills. A new piece of equipment with a steel frame, steering wheel, and car seats lets students practice extracting car accident victims from a vehicle.  

The outdoor patio, and in particular a built-in sand pit, also offers new possibilities for students in the Criminal Justice program next door. Every other week, students practice their investigation skills in simulated crime scenes. The sand pit creates opportunities for learning about footprints and recovering obscured evidence. 

Students and teachers alike are appreciating the natural light from numerous windows and roominess of the new spaces. 

“I want all classrooms in the district to be like this,” one student commented. 

Integrated throughout the renovated spaces are areas intended for informal gathering and socializing—a feature that was previously lacking throughout the building. Scheid noted the value of students being able to connect with peers who have similar academic and career interests. 

“We wanted to create a place that kids want to be,” Scheid elaborated. “We want students to feel proud of coming here.”

The next phase of the project will include construction of new learning spaces for Computer Science, Aerospace/Aviation, and Video Production, as well as a new addition to house a common area for students and updates to the outdoor courtyard space. Construction will continue in these areas until May. The final phase of the project will include renovations to existing Construction Trades, Auto Collision and Welding spaces, and new spaces for Quantum Manufacturing and Optical Engineering. The entire $29.6M project is on schedule to be completed in the fall of 2026. 

Apex will host an open house for prospective students on January 22, 4:30-7:30 p.m., 6600 Arapahoe Rd., Boulder.