Capital Campaign for Tampa Prep

Tampa Prep students create, innovate and break through obstacles every day.

By Building Bold, we will expand the space and the environment where the impossible becomes possible. We are launching the next generation of leaders. Will you join us?

EDUCATING THE GENERATION THAT WILL SHAPE TOMORROW

“ Our students depend upon the support received from generous members of our community, like you, to achieve great things now and in the future. Will you Build Bold with us?” Kevin M. Plummer, Head of School

WHERE OUR STUDENTS LEARN MATTERS

The right environment provides the comfort, confidence and inspiration needed for nimble, interdisciplinary thinking.

Tampa Prep has a bold vision to unleash the power of young minds and prepare them to address tomorrow’s biggest challenges. Our charge is to forecast the skills our students will need to lead and succeed in the 21st century. Our goal is to inspire in them a lifelong passion for learning.

For nearly 50 years, Tampa Prep has been

THE MOST INNOVATIVE SCHOOL IN FLORIDA

Tampa Prep has always been, and will always remain, steadfast in its dedication to delivering a unique blend of academic excellence, character education and a nurturing culture where students are encouraged to be kind, show compassion and live “a life with a higher purpose than self.”

“Our playbook is simple,” says Head of School Kevin Plummer.

“We envision what’s best for our students then we make it happen.”

We are forward looking and forward moving — always willing to try new ideas and push boundaries — anything that will better serve our students. Tampa Prep students engage actively with their world, develop a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by the greater community, and acquire the skills to work individually and collaboratively as problem-solvers, critical thinkers and leaders.

“Our students make things and do things. They graduate with real skills — including certificates in Autodesk and CPR — that give them a huge head start in college and in their professional lives.

Our alumni go out into the world both academically well-prepared and also as strong self-advocates who know how to make the right choices in life,” explains Dr. Amanda Helip-Wooley, Science Department Chair.

In 2015, we set out to create “Active Learning Environments” throughout our school. In these flexible learning spaces, education is a conversation, not a lecture, and there is no such thing as the back of the classroom like there is in a traditional

academic class setting. Building on our core principles of rigorous, individualized learning and inclusion, these essential renovations were completed in the main parts of both the Middle School and Upper School. However, we have not upgraded the shared science wing since 2002 when the current campus was originally built.

We now look to expand the successful Active Learning Environments design into our remaining learning spaces.

Incorporating this model into our science classrooms will better reflect the talents of our teachers, the contemporary curricula in use and the increasingly diverse and interconnected world in which our students will live and work.

The Active Learning Environments are critical to our School’s culture and to our students’ success — they encourage openness, collaboration, independent thought,

intellectual curiosity and active, respectful discourse.

It’s time to complete Tampa Prep’s transformation by Building Bold. The centerpiece of the Building Bold campaign is a new, four-story building we call Terrapin Tower.

“ This plan will redesign our campus from the inside out,” says VicePresident of Tampa Prep’s Board of Trustees and Infrastructure Committee Co-Chair John Fahey ‘90. “Our new building will become the physical face of our school — advancing state-of-the-art science education while expanding our educational offerings and student support capabilities. With its striking architecture, this building will become a symbol of our school’s commitment to continuous innovation, standing as an iconic presence in the exciting new recreational and business district taking shape around us.”

TERRAPIN TOWER:

designed to inspire joyful discovery Terrapin Tower will create a restructured main entrance with enhanced safety measures for our students. The courtyard where students gather during lunch and before and after school will be extended and closed off with a secure gate. There will be a singular point of entry to the School that will simultaneously be highly secure for our students and teachers yet welcoming to our visitors, including prospective families.

The second, third and fourth floors of Terrapin Tower will host state-of-the-art science laboratories that are nearly twice the size of our existing science classrooms, mimicking the research facilities that exist at colleges, universities and hospitals. Larger, flexible classrooms will provide the space needed to conduct labs and other projects that facilitate critical thinking. In addition, the fourth-floor lab will extend out to a veranda that can be used both for outdoor classroom experiences as well as a spectacular gathering space with stunning views of downtown Tampa.

Creating an extraordinary future requires a vision that is bold. It requires a program that stimulates research, innovation and creativity. As the most innovative school in Florida, Tampa Prep is poised to fulfill this promise with Terrapin Tower.

Our strategic location in the heart of a thriving metropolis allows us to regard all of Tampa as our campus — providing our students the opportunity to truly broaden their horizons. While our location is a strength, it also requires bold campus planning. Terrapin Tower will effectively and dramatically utilize both our indoor and outdoor spaces while opening up countless student-centered spaces in the existing building.

RENOVATIONS: revitalizing existing spaces

In addition to providing new science labs and collaboration spaces, Terrapin Tower will free up approximately 15,000 square feet in the center of our existing building, enabling us to create: • A new lecture hall for outside speakers, grade-level meetings and other smaller gatherings of both students and parents • A student learning lobby that will replace the area where the receptionist currently sits, filled with a variety of quiet nooks and collaborative spaces similar to the “jumpseats” and “study bars” that exist in the Upper School • Eight

additional, flexible classrooms where the science wing currently exists • A student services center that consolidates critical student needs, including academic support, tutoring and social, emotional and physical wellness into one accessible yet private cluster “ At Tampa Prep, education is about more than achievement,” says Board President Carrie White. “It’s about fulfillment — of imagination, of goals and of potential. Students are exposed to education with a higher purpose. This project will take one of the nation’s best independent schools and make it even better.”

We are Building Bold – towards an even more dynamic, collaborative, innovative future.

We invite you to be part of it.

Encompassing new construction, major renovation of current space and investments in technology and security, we project that $20 million is needed to take our vision to reality. The evolution of our facilities will transform our campus and do even more to prepare our students for success in college and beyond. Tampa Prep graduates will leave with the tools to be the leaders, big thinkers and problem-solvers that the world so desperately needs. And only the generosity of our community can make it all possible.

Will you help us inspire next?

727 W. CASS ST., TAMPA FL 33606 | 813 251 8481 tampaprep.org

inspire next.

727 W. CASS ST., TAMPA FL 33606 | 813 251 8481 tampaprep.org