When former Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders principal Jeanne Goka got up to speak in front of the school community on Feb. 22, she told the audience that many called the idea of a girls school impossible before ARS opened in 2007.

Over the last twelve years, ARS has provided young women from economically disadvantaged backgrounds opportunities, and Goka said the school’s success has come from the people with vision to overcome what some called impossible.

“Look who we have,” Goka said.

However, that same success has come within a school building built in 1958 that includes critters Goka referred to as “raccoons, rats and bats” at the campus, located at 2206 Prather Lane.

That will soon change. On Feb. 22 the ARS community celebrated the groundbreaking of a $70 million project funded by the 2017 Austin ISD bond that will create a new facility scheduled to open in 2021. The new school will be located at the same address, and will feature new athletic fields and added parking as well as the new school building, which is designed to increase enrollment capacity of the school from 924 students to 1,015.

“We look forward to seeing what the new 21st-century facility can do for our young women leaders,” said AISD Board of Trustees President Geronimo Rodriguez.

The groundbreaking ceremony on Feb. 22 featured a musical performance from local Austin band the Tiarra Girls. The three members of the band, sisters Sophia, Tori and Tiffany Baltierra, are ARS alumni.

Ellen Richards, daughter of the school’s namesake, former Texas Governor Ann Richards, also spoke at the event. Before her death in 2006, Ann Richards was heavily involved in crafting the vision for the school, according to the school’s website.