Building What Matters for Our Future Leaders

I started as a project engineer in K-12 nearly 17 years ago. Since then, a lot has changed, but the one thing that hasn’t changed is the outcome we provide school districts — and that’s an improved, more comprehensive learning environment for students and workspace for faculty.

Saunders has kept pace with the K-12 market for 50 years, completing over 7 million square feet of projects for 16 public school districts in the State of Colorado. We pride ourselves on being an innovative builder quick to find solutions, with a focus on bettering each community we serve.

Expanding Career and Technical Education

The K-12 market has seen a big shift across the nation, adding more flexible learning spaces to accommodate individual and group activities, with a focus on career and technical education. Saunders has constructed new spaces for students to learn and create in fields like construction, engineering, design, technology, business, healthcare and agriculture. We’ve had the unique opportunity to partner with our clients to help educate the younger generation about the construction industry. On past projects, we’ve created student outreach programs to provide hands-on training and jobsite walks. These moments just might plant the seed for a future career in construction.

Safety on Occupied Campuses

Ninety percent of our K-12 projects are on occupied campuses with safety protocols and preplanning being of utmost importance. Our project teams walk each school site with facility directors and school leaders to observe learning areas, student traffic patterns during the day and after school, parent drop-off locations, extracurricular activities, and faculty break areas. It’s important to learn first-hand from those that occupy the school campus daily to put the best plan in place.

Building with Purpose

Of all the project turnovers I’ve been a part of, I get the most satisfaction seeing students and faculty occupy finished spaces for the first time. The appreciation from staff, and even parents, is very apparent. The K-12 market will continue to be a focus for Saunders as our community and more importantly, our children, deserve to have a learning environment that can change with time and provide the resources and skills to create the foundation for our future leaders.