A Place Where Community and Learning Play Together

Since 2016, when Russell Middle School moved from its former location at 84 West Midland Avenue to the Royce A. Jackson Educational Complex, a Barrow BOLD vision has been taking shape around the historic campus on Midland to create a place where community and learning play together. The school building that has served in times past as an elementary, a middle, and a high school, now carries the badge, Center for Innovative Teaching (CFIT), and hosts a variety of diverse creative spaces and innovative educational programs, such as the Barrow County School System’s first middle grades magnet program. That program, the Arts & Innovation Magnet, or AIM program, provides its 6th and 7th grade students with a teaching and learning model built around project-based learning and arts integration.

Serving as an educational research environment to pilot innovations on a smaller scale, CFIT continues to prove that stronger partnerships across community and learning inevitably lead to greater successes. Those partnerships continue to grow and advance the greater vision of transforming the entire campus surrounding CFIT. Key partners in the campus development include ArtsNOW Learning, the Barrow Community Foundation, the Sustainable Design Collaborative - Atlanta, and UGA’s College of Environment and Design. With each partner bringing a unique set of skills and resources to the table, the Campus Development Project has made great strides to bring the shared vision to life.

For a closer look at a portion of the vision, enjoy this CFIT Design Proposal Video produced by the LAND4900 Studio of the UGA College of Environment and Design led by Professor Donnie Longenecker.

For more information about the CFIT Campus Development Project, visit the Barrow Community Foundation website at www.barrowcommunityfoundation.org.