Charles Crane/MDN The worksite at the new Minot North High School was bustling with activity the evening of July 31, with workers planting trees, rolling out asphalt and other finishing touches in preparation for the first day of school on Aug. 21.

The 2024-2025 school year will bring a great deal of change for Minot students with not only a new middle school but also two high schools for the first time in 50 years.

The case for a second high school in Minot was made following a demographic study in 2018 that projected continuing growth in the district in the next five years. Then superintendent Mark Vollmer told the school board at the time that the projected growth increased the need for discussion within the Minot community to gauge support for a bond issue.

While there had been a successful $39.5 million bond issue in April 2014 to construct a new elementary school and additions to two others, voters shot down a $125 million bond issue in 2013 to address the crowding at the district’s middle and high schools. The last high school constructed in Minot was Magic City Campus, which opened its doors in 1973. Magic City Campus housed juniors and seniors while freshman and sophomores attended Central Campus, despite conversations at the time about two separate 9-12 institutions. MPS was one of the last districts in the nation to split its high school grades between two campuses, and MPS educators and administrators have long expressed a change to a 9-12 format would benefit the students and teachers.

Discussions and focus groups would follow the demographic study, but the dream of a new high school crystalized when Cognizant Technology Solutions agreed to sell two office buildings and surrounding land at its shuttered campus at 2000 21st Ave. NW to the district for the nominal fee of $10.

The school board gave its unanimous approval to the agreement, with Vollmer expressing gratitude and his belief that the location was perfect for a second high school.

Though the existing 115,000-square-foot building was a boon for the district and would save about $15 million, it was roughly half of the amount of space a new high school would need, requiring further construction following the approval of a bond issue. After a series of focus groups and studies, Ackerman-Estvold of Minot and LSE Architects from Minneapolis were hired to develop a comprehensive plan for the district’s properties.

A bond issue was put before the voters on Dec. 7, 2021, to approve $84.8 million to fund the new construction on the Cognizant site, the transition of Magic City Campus into a 9-12 high school and the conversion of Central Campus into a third middle school for grades 6-8. A second question contingent on the approval of the first provided an additional $24.2 million to pay for a 59-meter competition swimming pool, new turf and an athletic complex.

Only 4,352 votes were cast on the bond issue. Sixty percent approval was required for the bond issue to pass, and voters resoundingly approved both questions, with 84% and 77% voting yes.

In the months that followed, the school board selected the name Minot North for the new high school, which received 51.5% support in a public survey over the other options – Great Northern and North Star. Ground was broken on the construction on Oct. 31, 2022, with Minot native Sen. John Hoeven in attendance. An additional public survey of 8,000 Minot residents was conducted later that spring to hone in on a mascot for the new school, resulting in the selection of Sentinels, after the U.S. Air Force’s new intercontinental ballistic missile system, with navy and blue chosen as the school colors.

Construction of the new structures and remodeling of the existing structures continued through 2023, with the work on the former Cognizant building finishing in time for the 2024-2025 school year. While most of the gymnasiums and athletic complex are expected to be ready when the Sentinel students arrive for the first day of school on Aug. 21, the school’s theater and pool complex isn’t expected to be completed until December.