New Blackwater Community School Continues to Serve as Hub for Education, Culture for Future Generations

Construction on the new Blackwater Community School, which replaces the facility originally built in 1939, is complete. The two-story structure is located Southeast of Phoenix, Arizona on a 7.43-acre campus on the Gila River Indian Community. The project team included engineer Rosendin, general contractor Gilbane Building Company and design partner Breckenridge Group.

The $25-million replacement campus incorporates culturally significant artwork throughout the classroom building, media center, multi-purpose building and cafeteria. The Blackwater Community School Culture Committee provided the insight for the cultural art in partnership and with the approval of the Blackwater Community School Board.

The Blackwater Community School serves two distinct tribes, the Akimel O’Otham who can trace their ancestry to the Hohokam and the Pee Posh, who come from the Yuma ancestry.

The Hohokam made contributions to the earliest forms of technology in the Southwest with the introduction of agriculture, irrigation canals and extensive trade networks. Exterior and internal murals throughout the campus depict those contributions with scenes of crop harvesting, desert landscapes, petroglyphic symbols like the Man in the Maze or Se:he and more. A shade structure has been built with metal shaped to look like cactus ribs, a material the Akimel O’Otham would use to build communal gathering space ramadas.

The two-year long campus build required an aggressive phasing schedule to implement construction while school was in session. Parts of the project were scheduled over winter and summer breaks to mitigate disruption to students.