Science, technology, engineering and math will soon have a new home at Hillyard Technical Center.

St. Joseph School District board members, as well as officials, teachers and students with Hillyard helped break ground Friday on a new Advanced Science Research Center.

“This is very exciting for us because we have been approached by the school foundation here in St. Joe to support this fascinating project,” said Albrecht Kissel, Boehring Ingelheim Vetmedica President and CEO.

The add-on facility will include more than 8,150 square feet of space, secure entry and reception office, science laboratory and lap prep space, two classrooms, and an independent research area and lap prep space.  The total cost of the new facility is $1,627,800.

Kissel said Boehringer decided to contribute $250,000 to the project because the company is always trying to hire local.

“We employ about 900 people here in St. Joe and about 600 of them work in manufacturing and many of them need education in STEM education,” Kissel said. “We want to ideally hire locally, and the more people who are educated locally the more we can hire here.”

The project is anticipated to be completed in August of 2016.