Rochester, NH The Monarch School of New England has partnered with Jewett Construction Company, Inc. to build a ground-up, new high school for young adults with significant disabilities. The new 11,000 s/f regional high school and vocational center designed by DeStefano Architects, will be built on a parcel of land within a farm off of Eastern Ave. A groundbreaking celebration was held on July 15. The new DeStefano Architects designed facility will house a large multipurpose room, a computer lab, a woodworking/shop area, art and music room, a greenhouse, a kitchen for preparing student lunches and numerous classrooms and administrative offices. The exterior will include cementitious siding, a standing seam metal roof and multiple cupolas. Also onsite will be a half-court basketball court for the students to enjoy. “This is our second design collaboration with the Monarch School and we are excited to team with Jewett Construction for this project. We are proud to be a part of a team mutually focused on the betterment of the learning environment for the students of the Monarch School,” said Lisa DeStefano, principal architect and founder of DeStefano Architects. Jewett Construction has a long history of building community-based facilities for New Hampshire non-profits, including the Boy Scouts of America — projects for which they also fundraised — as well as the 30,000 s/f Exeter Area YMCA and a historic renovation of the non-profit America’s Credit Museum in Manchester. “We’re pleased to be onboard for such a tremendous project,” said Craig Jewett, president of Jewett Construction. “An educational facility like this will benefit children with disabilities throughout the entire region as well as the communities they enrich and live in for generations to come.” The full team of DeStefano Architects, Jewett Construction, Summit Engineering, CSI Engineering, HBLA, Inc., and CLD Consulting Engineers are working with local subcontractors and the Monarch School of New England to design and build a facility that will provide the necessary equipment and space to educate and provide training to its students for a wide variety of work options in the agriculture, hospitality, technology and service sectors. The project is being funded by community support, a generous pool of corporate donors and a construction loan from the Bank of New Hampshire. “We have waited over 15 years for this new regional high school and vocational center to be built. Needless to say, we are thrilled it is happening,” said Diane Bessey, executive director of Monarch School of New England. “We have great partners helping us realize our vision; we wouldn’t be able to do this project without them. Thank you to our builders, contractors, designers, architects, engineers and bankers. Your efforts mean the world to us.”