$160 million High Tech High campus opens in Secaucus , N.J.

Hudson County, N.J., officials have unveiled a $160 million state-of-the-art campus in Secaucus that is the new home for High Tech High School.

The Jersey Journal reports that the new Frank J. Gargilo Campus is a 350,000-square-foot building packed with technological perks ranging from recording and production studios to 12 science labs and music classrooms.

The school has been constructed on a 22-acre land owned by the county, roughly twice the size of the old High Tech building in North Bergen. It has wings dedicated to vocational academies: culinary arts; design and fabrication; performing arts; technical and visual arts; and science tech.

A fabrication lab helps students explore spatial ideas through model building. The school also has a 120-seat black box theater, a 325-seat performing arts auditorium, 80-inch interactive monitors that replace and enhance standard chalkboard learning, and a TV production studio with a functioning control room. Outdoor amenities include a hydroponic rooftop garden where students will grow food to be used in the culinary kitchen lab.

About 1,200 students are enrolled in various programs at the school. In addition to a traditional four-year high school, the new campus building also houses KAS Prep -- an alternative high school program -- and Hudson Technical, a post-secondary certification program.

This school was designed to achieve LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Features such as water-efficient landscaping, geothermal heating, green roof and wind turbines reduce the amount of greenhouse gases and wastewater emitted from the campus.

The campus was named for Gargiulo, who has served in Hudson County education for about three decades both as an instructor and administrator.

"I am humbled by the decision to dedicate this campus in my name," he said. "These students are among the brightest in the country and deserve a quality space to study and prepare themselves academically for the future."

Funding for the project came from the state and county.

"Without the county's support we wouldn't have been able to do this," said John Shinnick, assistant school business administrator of Hudson County Schools of Technology. "This is quite a commitment to the students of Hudson County."