Somerton High School

Somerton High School is the district's seventh high school and will be open for the 2023-2024 school year. Before this high school was built, Somerton was the largest city in Arizona that didn't have its own high school.

The design reflects the agriculture community and prepares students to contribute to their local economy after high school. The design also incorporates the Colorado River Delta that breathes life into this fertile desert region through a shaded outdoor courtyard that runs through the heart of campus. This space is a place for students to gather and learn together.

Somerton High School is located in a seismic design category D, with soils subject to seismic liquefaction. This results in high seismic loads. Wood was chosen as a roof system to help reduce overall building weight, thus decreasing seismic lateral loads. An engineered wood open-web truss system was selected. This system also met the project’s schedule, for other material systems could not be procured in a reasonable time. The wood roof system also provided additional economics over steel joists or steel framed systems.

“Everyone on McCarthy's Yuma team feels so fortunate to be a part of this project, working in collaboration with our partners at DLR Group, Arcadis, and the district to make the new high school a reality,” said John Kovesdy, McCarthy project manager.