1. Badin High School continues to grow. Badin’s 2024-2025 overall enrollment stands at 715 students, with a freshman class of nearly 190. Next year’s incoming class of freshman will be nearly 200, and will mark the third-straight year of incoming freshman classes around that 190-student mark.
And the more than 700 students is not far from double what the school had just 15 years ago. During the 2010-2011 school year, Badin’s enrollment was 488. Next school year, Badin President Brian Pendergest said next year’s total student body enrollment will be in the 730 range.
“As our enrollment grows, so does our campus,” he said.
Since 2020, they built a new student development center, opened a new parking lot last year, and this fall will open the long-awaited on-campus sports complex. The boys and girls varsity teams will host the first official games played at the Lanni Family Stadium in the Mantandy SportsPlex on Terry Malone Field. The first home football game will be played on Sept. 5 against Edgewood.
“For us to be able to open our own stadium on our own campus is something we dreamed of for 60 years. Next year will be our 60th year as a school at Badin High School, and so we’re very excited to have that happen,” Pendergest said. “It’s exciting time to be able to do this, and we’re excited to see how that will helps us grow.”
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
2. Marshal High School ready to serve. The recently opened Marshall High School on Ohio 4 in Hamilton is the expansion of the Middletown campus. It’s led by Director Kelvin Moss and he said its goal is to remove all barriers for the students. This includes a food pantry and clothing pantry “so we can make sure they can focus on being successful in the classroom.“
“Anything that their families may need, we got you,” he said. “We have in-house counseling. We have a family advocate that supports the families. We try to make sure we have everything so we have no excuses about coming to school and being successful.”
Marshall High School is a drop out prevention, credit recovery school with a focus on workforce development. Between the Hamilton and Middletown campuses, they have 739 students.
Marshall High School was designed for the unique needs of teens who have not found success in traditional high schools, and they found a partner with Hamilton High School, Moss said.
“What I love about Hamilton is they got it,” he said. “You don’t get a lot of districts who partner with a charter school, and they see the vision of what we’re doing.”
He went on to say that they “really thrive on our partnerships with the community. We’re all about relationships.”
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
3. Advanced Manufacturing Hub update.
The Advanced Manufacturing Hub, or AM Hub, at the former Vora Tech facility on Knightsbridge will start taking students in January 2026, said Moira Casey, Miami University’s Regional Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
The hub, which was announced last summer will “serve as an economic catalyst for our community and develop an educated workforce in advanced manufacturing and related STEM fields.”
She said many of those who attended the state of the schools address supported the initiative, and “we truly could not move this forward without all of you in the community.”
The AM Hub is a partnership with Miami University Regionals and Butler Tech, but the partnerships include Butler County, the city of Hamilton, Hamilton City Schools, and more than 25 businesses. Casey said they have 70,000 square feet to start offering courses of study “with plenty of additional space to grow.”
The building is more than 300,000 square feet.
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
The Butler Tech students who will begin at the start of next year will have “specific pathways in engineering technology” and eventually move on to degree programs at the Miami Regionals, “and even potentially move on to graduate programs in engineering on our main campus,” she said.
Butler Tech Superintendent, said the AM Hub is providing education in cutting-edge technology with training spaces.
“This hub is a centerpiece of the modern manufacturing in education,” he said. “We’ve talked about the education revolution and the transformation about what needs to happen in our public education systems. It’s happening right here in Hamilton at the Advanced Manufacturing Hub in partnership with Miami University.
The dozens of partners in this project “have collectively come together to say we’re going to change the way education is going to be delivered for our students for real hands-on learning.”
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