New Horizons High School, formerly Pasco Alternative High School, opened in its current location on the east end of the Columbia Basin College campus in August 2017. Thanks to a ongoing partnership between Pasco School District and CBC, the District was able to renovate the former CH2M Hill Education Center and transform it into New Horizons' new home with more than 32,000 square feet of space, including a cafeteria, science lab, daycare center, computer lab, art room, food pantry, and more than a dozen classrooms.
From 1989-2017, New Horizons was located in a series of portable buildings on the west end of the CBC campus. Since the 1970‘s, Pasco Alternative High School had been housed in a rented facility in the old airport area owned by the Port of Pasco until it was destroyed by a fire on April 6, 1989. Like the phoenix, the school rose from the ashes with a new name, a new location and a renewed spirit.
New Horizons High School (NHHS) represents a learning community dedicated to doing whatever it takes by forming strong relationships with students, parents and the community to make each student‘s destination graduation. The school is uniquely designed to support teen parents with on-site childcare and a baby bus, and a powerful and effective teen parent program serving both moms and dads and babies who will be our kinders in a few short years.
Designated a Washington State Innovative School in 2011, New Horizons High School has evolved to a school in which all students must meet the same academic standards as in any high school. In 2008 the school was accredited and students now receive a diploma with their school mascot and name embossed, a true identity achieved. The school‘s name, nominated by and voted on by the student body, symbolizes a forward-looking view. Many of its students are rising from the ashes themselves and recommitting to finishing their educations in spite of previous choices that may have taken them down another path. New Horizons High School students have rededicated themselves to their educations. New Horizons High School is a place of hope and a promise for the future for its students. If you haven‘t had a chance to judge their senior projects presentations, it is an experience you shouldn‘t miss.
