Ozark High School Opens New Storm Shelter, Indoor Activities Center

A new chapter for Ozark High School student activities began on Aug. 22, 2024, as the Ozark community, along with state and local representatives, school and District staff, OHS band students, cheerleaders, and JROTC cadets, gathered to cut the ribbon for the OHS storm shelter/gym and the new indoor activities center.

“Anytime that we can provide safety for our students, as well as enhanced educational opportunities, it's a win-win,” Superintendent Dr. Lori Wilson said. “It's a win-win for our students, for our faculty, our parents and our community.”

These projects are the last of the 2022 bond projects, which included storm shelters at Tiger Paw Early Childhood Center, Ozark Middle School and OHS, as well as a new entrance at OMS and an indoor activities center at OHS. The $19 million no-tax-increase bond issue focused on safety while accommodating Ozark’s growing community, Assistant Superintendent of Learning Dr. Craig Carson said.

“This space provides us excellent opportunities to spread out our learning and is a great space for our co-curriculars like JROTC, band, winter guard and our sports teams,” Carson said. “We've been out of gymnasium space for quite a while, and so instead of having to pile multiple classes in the gym, we can now spread out.”

With the completion of these projects, every school building in the Ozark School District is now equipped with a storm shelter.

“This completes a mission that we started several years ago when we did our long range planning and decided with the community that one of the most important things that we can do is provide safe spaces for all students during storms,” Assistant Superintendent of Operations Dr. Curtis Chesick said.

Chesick also noted that unlike other school district’s storm shelters, almost all of Ozark’s storm shelters are dual purpose, whether serving as a gym, cafeteria or additional classrooms.

“Our storm shelters like this building are in use almost 100 percent of the time, if not more than 100 percent of the time,” Chesick said. “This building will be used long after that last bell rings every day, and long before students and staff enter the building each morning.”

Notably, this event also marks the opening of the first indoor practice facility at a high school in the Springfield metro area. The facility features a 20-to-20-yard line turf, batting cages and more. It will serve various student groups, including the band, JROTC, winter guard and sports teams, while also being available for use by the Ozark community. Additionally, the storm shelter doubles as a gym for P.E. classes and a practice space for student activities, according to Ozark Athletic Director Yancey Little, who joked that these new facilities make him want to be a coach again.

“We've already got great facilities, but it just adds to what we have,” he said. “I know these facilities and other investments into our extracurricular programs make our students, coaches and sponsors proud to be Ozark Tigers.”

Student groups, such as JROTC, have already begun utilizing the new gym space, and the indoor facilities are scheduled to open to students in the coming weeks.

“We're entering a new era at Ozark High School, one filled with promise and opportunity,” OHS Principal Dr. Phillip Witt said. “These facilities are cornerstones of that future, where our students can thrive in and out of the classroom, while becoming leaders in our community and shaping a brighter future for us all.”

This project was made possible through the partnership with our construction and design teams, including our project architect, Esterly Schneider & Associates, Inc., and Branco Enterprises, Inc., which served as construction manager at risk. It is also a result of a partnership with our community, who continues to support Ozark School District, according to Ozark School Board Vice President Amber Bryant.

“None of this, of course, would have been possible without the ongoing partnerships that we have and the support of you, our community,” Bryant said. “Together we have built something really special and something that's going to benefit generations to come.”

Storm shelters at Ozark Middle School and Tiger Paw Early Childhood Center were completed last spring. For more details on these projects, visit www.ozarktigers.org/bond.