Collier County Public Schools celebrated the ribbon-cutting Tuesday of its first new high school in 19 years. Aubrey Rogers High School in North Naples will welcome 1,200 students at the beginning of the school year Aug. 10.
The Collier County School Board purchased the 60-acre property off the recently extended Veterans Memorial Boulevard in 2001, and the high school was chosen for the site in 2019. The three-story building sits facing a cypress dome where students can experience the surrounding natural wetlands through an outdoor boardwalk.
The county last opened new high schools in 2004 with the addition of Golden Gate High and Palmetto Ridge High.
Aubrey Rogers served as Collier County sheriff from 1975 until his retirement in 1989. Rogers, who died in 2010 at 83, created the county’s Youth Relations Deputy Program in 1977, placing deputies in the local public schools. CCPS chose the high school’s name to carry on Rogers’ legacy of keeping children safe and encouraging a healthy relationship between students and law enforcement.
“Our kids are really facing challenging times, whether it be with acts of violence that they see, you want them to feel safe when they come to school,” CCPS Superintendent Leslie Ricciardelli said. “There’s also the impact of negative things, such as drugs or alcohol. You want them to have a relationship with the deputy, so that they don’t fear a deputy, so that they know they can trust and then go speak to somebody, and that they have their best interests in mind. The most beautiful part of our Youth Relations deputies is that they truly put our students first.”
The new high school’s Patriot mascot is recognized throughout the school’s namespaces, such as the Patriot Pavilion gymnasium and hallways Freedom Hall and Stars Hall, as well as the school’s main walkway, Allegiance Alley.
Principal Ellen Keegan was excited to see the years of planning finally fall into place and said she will ensure that the students understand the impact they will have on the school’s future.
“We’re going to be putting out a red carpet [on the first day], we’re going to make it special for these students, because this is a legacy that they are creating, and it’s going to be something that everybody gets to watch and be a part of,” Keegan said. “I want it to be really special for the students.”
Keegan said innovation will be Aubrey Rogers’ defining characteristic, with facilities that can benefit the interests of any student. There is a performing arts center that can seat 1,300 people, a 4,000-seat sports stadium and 98-inch interactive televisions in classrooms.
Incoming senior Darian Alvarez-Garcia said it was an honor to be a part of Aubrey Rogers’ first graduating class. Coming from Naples High School, Alvarez-Garcia looks forward to his new academic journey alongside old and new friends.
“On Day 1, I hope to meet all my teachers, make some new friends, create a nice, close friend group and, honestly, just get a whole feel of the place to start some new cultures and traditions,” Alvarez-Garcia said.
Aubrey Rogers’ son, Dan Rogers, is in his 34th year with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office. He knows his father would be proud of his impact on local efforts to make school security a priority.
“We can’t even begin to explain how overwhelmed we are, even just to walk up and see the entrance to that school and his name, and knowing what this would mean to him if he were still here,” Rogers said. “Because the Youth Relations Bureau was his doing, and that was his proudest part of being sheriff.”
