Designing the Future at Summit Middle School
Walk down the hallway between the main building and the gym at Summit Middle School, and you’ll find something new: a vibrant learning space where students are building rockets, designing prototypes, cooking full meals, and imagining what their futures might look like.The school’s new Design Futures wing, which opened in January 2026, was created to give students hands-on opportunities to explore science, engineering, design, and culinary arts in ways that connect directly to the real world.
The expansion is part of Summit’s growing focus on Career and Technical Education, with spaces designed to help students apply academic learning through experimentation, creativity, and collaboration. The project was supported through a three-year capital campaign launched in 2024 to raise $500,000 for construction, equipment, and furniture.
A Space Built for Innovation
The heart of the new wing is the Innovation Commons, a bright collaborative hallway where students gather to design, experiment, and work together. The space is lined with 3D printers and large screens, with comfortable seating and tables that encourage brainstorming and teamwork.
It’s also home to Summit’s new Esports program, where students compete, collaborate, and build digital skills in a rapidly growing field.
Just beyond the commons sits the Innovation & Prototyping Lab, a room clearly built for hands-on creativity. Long high-top worktables stretch across the room, with power drops hanging from the ceiling so students can easily plug in tools and devices.When visitors stop by, they might find students in the middle of one of Summit’s most exciting engineering projects: designing and building bottle rockets for an upcoming launch competition. Teams sketch ideas, test materials, and make last-minute adjustments as launch day approaches.
A large glass garage door opens the lab directly to an outdoor workspace, allowing projects to expand beyond the classroom walls. The prototyping lab connects to a STEM classroom through a folding wall that can open to create one large collaborative learning environment. Here, rows of computers support research, coding, and digital design.
Together, these spaces form what Summit calls a CTE Learning Community — a place where students can explore engineering, robotics, design, programming, filmmaking, and more while applying academic skills in meaningful ways.
Learning Skills That Last
On the other side of the wing, the Culinary Lab brings a different kind of hands-on learning to life.
The classroom functions as a full teaching kitchen. At the front of the room, an instructor demonstrates techniques on a stovetop counter while a camera overhead projects the lesson onto large screens so every student can see clearly. A microphone ensures directions are heard across the room as students prepare to start cooking.Six cooking stations line the classroom, each equipped with its own stovetop, ventilation system, and preparation space. In the back of the room, students also learn the full scope of kitchen management with sinks, dishwashers, and laundry equipment.
On one recent day, students were beginning a new unit centered on building a full steak dinner. Day one focused on creating an appetizer — caprese salad — as students worked together to gather ingredients, divide roles, and start preparing their dishes.
When asked what they were most excited about, one student shared they loved “tasting all the flavors,” while another said they were eager to learn new ways to cook meals they could make at home.
Preparing Students for What Comes Next
The Design Futures expansion reflects Summit’s broader vision of helping students explore interests and career pathways early while building confidence through hands-on learning.
The new wing includes a STEM classroom, innovation and prototyping lab, culinary classroom, outdoor build space, and collaborative innovation commons, all designed to help students apply rigorous academic content in creative and practical ways.
For Summit students, the result is more than just new classrooms. It’s a place where ideas turn into projects, curiosity turns into skills, and learning feels connected to the future.
Inside Design Futures, students aren’t just studying possibilities — they’re building them.
To learn more about Summit Middle School's Design Futures CTE program, visit their website: https://sum.bvsd.org/school-life/design-futures
