CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS ) – It was a ceremonial start to construction today for a new science and technology campus for a Camden charter high school.

Camden’s Leap Academy University Charter School has broken ground on a new $12-million facility for science, technology, engineering, and math education.  School founder Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago says so-called “STEM” education is where the future is, and minority students need to be represented.

“In the next ten years, the bubble of jobs is going to be in STEMs, so therefore we need to prepare our young generation for those jobs,” she told KYW Newsradio this morning.

“It will give me the resources to learn and to be skilled to help me reach my college goals,” said sophomore Brittany Ruiz, who hopes to become a pediatric nurse.

The new three-story building at Sixth and Cooper Streets is expected to open next September.

Reported by Mike DeNardo, KYW Newsradio 1060