GCS Breaks Ground on New Roper Mountain Science Center Building

Environmental Science and Sustainability Center to Open in Early 2020

Greenville County Schools Administration and Board of Trustees has broken ground on Roper Mountain Science Center’s new Environmental Science and Sustainability Center. The 28,428 square foot facility is the first new educational building on the RMSC campus since 1989. It is expected to open in early 2021.

Constructed by the School District of Greenville County, with exhibit and technology supported by the Roper Mountain Science Center Association, it will feature seven state-of-the art classrooms and a variety of interactive learning experiences. The total cost of the project is just over $15 million, with GCS paying $12 million for building construction and RMSCA paying $3 million for exhibits and technology.

The new facility will encourage students and visitors to engage in hands-on learning about personal and global sustainability and inspire a commitment to create solutions to challenges arising from human interaction with the environment.

Roper Mountain is developing a sustainability curriculum for middle schools in collaboration with the Shi Center for Sustainability at Furman University that will be a model for other school districts throughout the state and nation. GCS will also expand educational offerings in environmental science, ecology, earth and life sciences for students in the fourth through seventh grade.

The building will house a new on-site kitchen and cafeteria that will host a Culinary Employability Credential and School-Based Business Enterprise for students with disabilities.