Minot North High School completed the majority of its construction phases and renovation of the former Cognizant facility for classes to begin on Aug. 21. The first domino toward realization of the dream of a new high school in Minot was the donation of two office buildings and surrounding land to the district from Cognizant Technology Solutions, which formerly had been a call center at 2000 21st Ave. NW.

Encompassing 30 acres, the property was sold to the district for the nominal fee of $10. The district purchased 32 acres adjacent to the property shortly thereafter. The existing building provided 115,000 square feet of space, saved $15 million in construction costs and was the impetus for Minot voters to approve an $84.8 million bond issue on Dec. 7, 2021.

The bond funded the renovation of the existing building, new construction on the Cognizant site, as well as conversions and realignment in the district. The new school not only was the first new high school constructed in the community since Magic City Campus in 1973, but it ushered in a transition for Minot High School and the creation of a new middle school.

MPS was one of the last districts in the nation to split its high school grades between two campuses. MPS now boasts two 9-12 high schools, and the former Central Campus transitioned into Central Middle School.

A Central Middle School student hustles to beat the bell on the first day of classes on Aug. 21.

Paul Kramer, senior project designer with Ackerman Eskvold, spoke at the ribbon cutting ceremony at Minot North on Oct. 9, at which he broke down the timeline of the project. The various components included the renovation of the Family and Consumer Science, vocational departments and science department at Magic City Campus, an addition at Magic City Campus for an auxiliary gymnasium and locker room, the construction of the Minot Area Workforce Academy, a sports complex for Minot North as well as the new construction at the Minot North site. The final components of the endeavor were the completion of the Minot North auditorium and aquatics center, which were handed over to the district on Dec. 2.

“From (when) the referendum was passed to the first day of school, it was 988 days – almost two and three quarter years to get where we are. A lot of design work. A lot of projects. A lot of getting out stumping and getting out support for this project happened,” Kramer said.

Kramer broke down the final stats for the project, with the Minot North campus covering 75 acres, or 285,951 square feet, with 762 parking spots. Kramer said Minot North runs 3/10 of a mile from one end to the other, which led Principal Harlan Johnson to ask if it was possible to have a motorized cart. There are 326 rooms in Minot North, with 69 serving as programmed class rooms.

“I think we’ve got a pretty good bang for our buck, all things considered with some of the things we had to go through as far as inflationary costs. A lot of work has been done in a very condensed amount of time. I’m very proud to say we were able to accomplish all the aspects of the bond referendum,” Kramer said.