New ֱLab Schools Campus Officially Celebrates its New Home
From left: State Representative Chip LaMarca, ֱBoard of Trustees chairman Piero Bussani, Michael Morris, Billi Marcus, Lucy Henderson, Wayne Huizenga, Jr., ֱPresident Adam Hasner and Joel Herbst, Ed.D., vice president for PK-12 pre-baccalaureate programs and ֱLab Schools superintendent
ֱ celebrated the official opening of its brand-new Boca Raton campus of A.D. Henderson University School and ֱ High School today with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
The nearly 62,000-square-foot complex houses the elementary, middle and high schools at the No. 2 public school system in the country. The state-of-the-art campus replaces the original home to ADHUS, which was built in 1968.
Speakers during the dedication ceremony were ֱPresident Adam Hasner; Joel Herbst, Ed.D., vice president for PK-12 pre-baccalaureate programs and ֱLab Schools superintendent; State Representative Chip LaMarca; Michael Morris of The Marcus Foundation; and ֱHigh School senior Olie Hallstrom.
“A.D. Henderson and ֱHigh School not only set the standard for excellence but are redefining what K-12 education can look like,” said Hasner. “There is a reason that so many people from across the nation and the world come to visit our laboratory schools to see how our teachers, staff and students have such remarkable success. I am thankful to the many community members who brought this vision to life, and I am proud to see all that can be achieved when we work together to invest in education.”
At the heart of the new campus is the Marcus Research and Innovation Center, a one-of-a-kind facility that won’t be found anywhere else in K-12 education across the globe, and a space that will serve as an incubator for the researcher and innovators of tomorrow, solving society’s most complex challenges. This building is home to the Biodesign Research Hub, which houses the school’s research program.
In this space, students immerse themselves in cutting-edge fields and labs, including the Berlin Family Bioimaging Lab, the Wahoo Bay Ocean Sciences and Conservation Lab, the Neuroscience Lab, and the Simulated Operating Room Lab. It also includes a dark room and the Manjit Kaur High-Performance Computing Lab.
The other half of the building features a Biomechanics Lab with spaces for robotics, alternative fuel vehicles, and is home to much of what is done within The Cane Institute for Advanced Technologies. It also houses the Skylab for drone and flight programs and a Rapid Prototyping Lab equipped with 3D printers, laser cutters and a hydrogel printer.
The main entrance to the campus features a two-story, cutting-edge K-8 school building and a multi-use athletic complex. A university-level lecture hall provides a professional platform for enriching experiences such as mock trial, Model United Nations, speech and debate, science fair, and both student and staff research presentations.
In addition to these advancements, a new archaeological dig site offers hands-on experiences that bring history and math lessons to life, while the robotic farming and drone Agricultural space blends plant sciences and robotics, including drone technology. The aquatic facility features a swimming pool for physical education and K-8 swimming programs, as well as a training ground to host national and international marine robotics competitions. There’s also an outdoor athletic complex with a synthetic turf track and soccer field.
The administrative building serves as a hub for staff development, supporting the groundbreaking research the school’s educators continue to publish as they shape and innovate its one-of-a-kind schooling.
“Our faculty and staff are the architects of signature student experiences,” said Herbst. “They make learning sticky by taking students on extraordinary journeys of discovery – into archaeological dig sites, through Da Vinci-inspired design studios, beneath the surface of the world’s oceans, and into neuroscience labs where they peer through a confocal microscope to unlock the secrets of a single cell. They leverage industry devices to provide hands-on learning, such as even performing laparoscopic surgery on green peppers and pumpkins.
The Florida legislature believes in Herbst’s mission so much that ADHUS was awarded $2 million last session in the state budget to create the Center for Educational Strategy and Innovation at the Florida Atlantic Laboratory Schools, a rescue mission re-engineering education in Florida and ultimately, across the country. The center’s goal to scale STEM education to all students is critical and will pave the way for schools, school districts and universities in Florida to drastically improve student outcomes.
“We are future-proofing education by looking to industry and the cutting edge of science to prepare students for what they must be ready to do now – and in the future,” said Herbst. “To accomplish this, our teachers are empowered to take bold risks, challenge norms, and push the boundaries of what was once thought impossible within the school walls. This is our mission, and our quest to reimagine public education will never end.”
ADHUS opened on Sept. 16, 1968, as a developmental research laboratory school to enhance instruction and research to improve outcomes for all students throughout the country. The school was made possible through a $1.3 million gift from Lucy Henderson in honor of her late husband, Alexander D. Henderson.
Capitalizing on the success of ADHUS, ֱHigh was established in 2004 as a fully immersed early college model. In 2014, a strategic plan with an extraordinary vision and mission was designed to reimagine and reengineer public education in both Florida and across the U.S.
The ֱLab Schools have been recognized three times as a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education and six times as a Florida School of Excellence. A.D. Henderson is also rated as the No. 3 public elementary school and No. 5 public middle school in America, and ֱLab Schools were recently recognized as a 2025 Cognia School of Distinction.
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