Rural development provided a $78 million Community Facility Direct Loan to construct a high school on 100 acres of Section 16 property that was once a sugar cane field -- now home for the Southside High School (SHS).
The Land Ordinance of 1785 provided the foundation for undeveloped farmland to be used for public education.
The 256,000 square foot state-of-the-art high school is a three-story building that contains administrative offices, a library, laboratories, dining facility, and collaboration spaces.
USDA Photo by Preston Keres. Original public domain image from Flickr