Ohio School Gets $5M Gift for Food Innovation Center

A $5 million gift is transforming how students in Ohio will learn about innovation, technology, and one of humanity's most basic needs: food.

Western Reserve Academy in Summit County announced the creation of the Wang Makerspace and Innovation Center, a 16,000-square-foot expansion funded by the CJ Wang Foundation. The gift marks the foundation's first-ever grant, established by CJ Xuning Wang and his family to support education and athletics.

Wang, who chairs SharkNinja and founded the Joyoung Company, chose to invest in the school where his sons studied. The decision reflects a personal connection to an institution he believes can lead the way in reimagining education.

The new center will add to the school's existing 6,000-square-foot makerspace with a unique focus: a dedicated hub for food innovation, sustainability, and service. Students will study food systems through multiple lenses including agriculture, economics, environmental science, and nutrition.

Beyond food, the expansion will create more opportunities for students to dive into artificial intelligence, digital media, robotics, engineering, entrepreneurship, and interdisciplinary design. It's a combination that bridges cutting-edge technology with fundamental human needs.

"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, a school trustee and foundation representative. The family hopes their investment encourages other donors to think creatively about supporting innovation in schools.

The Ripple Effect

This gift does more than upgrade one school's facilities. It sends a message about what's possible when philanthropy meets education with imagination.

By combining high-tech fields like AI and robotics with essential topics like food sustainability, the center prepares students to tackle real-world challenges. These students won't just learn abstract concepts. They'll develop hands-on skills to build solutions the world actually needs.

Head of School Suzanne Walker Buck captured the vision perfectly: "The Wang Makerspace and Innovation Center is about both ends of the spectrum: new frontiers in technology and our most fundamental human need – food."

Groundbreaking is scheduled for June 5 during the school's Bicentennial Celebration Weekend. Akron-based Wheeler Boltz Architects is designing the space to bring this ambitious vision to life.

The center represents a growing recognition that innovation education works best when it connects to meaningful problems. Students who learn to apply technology to challenges like sustainable food systems graduate ready to make real differences in their communities.

When families invest in education this boldly, they're betting on the next generation's ability to dream bigger than we can imagine.