Wang Foundation gifts $5-million to expand WRA tech hub

Submitted by Western Reserve Academy

Western Reserve Academy announced a $5 million gift from the CJ Wang Foundation. The gift is the first awarded by the Foundation and will launch the next phase of the school’s Wang Makerspace and Innovation Center, WRA’s creative and applied technology hub.

The new 16,000-square-foot space will be an addition to the school’s existing 6,000-square-foot makerspace, established in 2017 through the generosity of CJ Xuning Wang, founder and chairman of SharkNinja, and founder, chairman and CEO of the Joyoung Co. Wang imagined that Joyoung’s own innovation center could inspire a dreamspace for schools, starting at WRA, where his two sons were students.

The Wang Makerspace and Innovation Center also will house a first-of-its-kind high school offering: the Center for Food Innovation, Sustainability and Service, a laboratory and teaching space devoted to studying food and food systems across agriculture, economics, environmental science, nutrition and service.

The gift, announced as WRA celebrates its bicentennial year, supports WRA’s recognition as a leading high school for STEM, arts and innovation. Funding will expand opportunities for students to engage in artificial intelligence, digital media, robotics, engineering, entrepreneurship and interdisciplinary design. Akron-based Wheeler Boltz Architects is WRA’s partner in the project.

The Wang Makerspace and Innovation Center has become a defining feature of the WRA experience. Students design prototypes, build products, and collaborate across disciplines using tools such as 3D printers, laser cutters, advanced manufacturing equipment, robotics and emerging AI technologies. WRA said the center is frequently cited by prospective families as a deciding factor in choosing the school.

“The Wang Makerspace and Innovation Center shows what is possible when students are given the tools and the trust to dream, create and build,” said Barney Wang, who represents the CJ Wang Foundation, graduated from WRA in 2015, and is now a trustee of the school. “This gift demonstrates our family’s pride and confidence in the students and faculty at WRA as it enters its third century. We hope this investment strengthens WRA’s leadership among schools and encourages others to think boldly about how philanthropy can stimulate innovation in schools.”

Head of School Suzanne Walker Buck said receiving the gift during WRA’s bicentennial is especially powerful.

“Thanks to the generosity of the CJ Wang Foundation, while we honor 200 years of history, we are simultaneously igniting the future,” Buck said. “The Wang Makerspace and Innovation Center is about both ends of the spectrum: new frontiers in technology and our most fundamental human need, food. Technology and humanity are not mutually exclusive.”

Groundbreaking for the building expansion is scheduled for June 5, as a part of WRA’s Bicentennial Celebration Weekend.The enhanced facility is expected to deepen community partnerships, attract families and serve as a model for schools nationwide. Part of the legacy of the space was the production of Personal Protective Equipment for first responders during COVID. WRA also has partnered with thousands in the regional community, offering the Center as a business incubator for initiatives of all scopes and sizes.