Construction on Winona State University’s Education Village is continuing to be completed on time in the fall of 2019.

The three buildings, Cathedral Hall, Wabasha Recreation Center and Wabasha Hall, will provide a variety of services for the community of Winona and Winona State. The buildings will mainly be used for Winona State’s College of Education, but will provide a variety of services.

The total cost of the three buildings will be $32.5 million. Funding is almost complete, but some still needs to be done.

Timothy Matthees, director of planning and construction, says that they are waiting on the funding for two different services.

“We are still working on the funding to complete the child care renovation on first floor of Wabasha Hall and the funding of the AV/IT equipment in Wabasha Hall,” Matthees said.

Classes that will be taught there include: elementary education, early education, special education, counselor education and leadership. The Education Village will also house the child advocacy center.

Wabasha Hall will also have a variety of classrooms that are made to reflect the progressions and improvements that education has made over the many years it has been a part of Winona.

For example, the first floor of Wabasha Hall will be an old-fashioned one room school house meant to reflect schooling in the late 1800s. Next, is a classroom modeled after schools in the 1950s and finally, the second floor will have a state of the art, modern classroom.

Due to the winter months, the focus has been internal structures such as walls and ventilation.

Tarrell Portman, Winona State dean of education, shared her excitement over the internal structures being built. 

The Education village may also have professional development for Winona State staff. Currently, Winona State staff goes to another city for their professional development. The goal is to bring it back to Winona.

The Education Village will also provide training for other community members who work in education.

Portman detailed the potential scope of professions that would find training at the Education Village.

“One of our goals is to have the education village become a professional development training site for practicing teachers, administrators, counselors and community occupations, like mental health counselors, because we train those also,” Portman said.

Cathedral Hall will house a new education museum that aims to honor and teach about the history of education, teachers and students.

The children’s center at Winona State will be making the move to Education Village as well. Currently, it is in the ground floor of Maria Hall and throughout various elementary schools in the Winona area.

Programs for early childhood to twelfth grade will also be held in Education Village. Summer camps, Young Writers Conferences and College for Kids, among other groups, will be held in education village.

Portman said, “It will be a place for learning and education across the board.”