WESTERN RESERVE ACADEMY RECEIVES $10 MILLION FROM SHARKNINJA CHAIRMAN

CJ Xuning Wang Unveils Vision for National Network of School Makerspaces During Western Reserve Academy Bicentennial

HUDSON, Ohio, June 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As the world grapples with how to prepare students for a future shaped by artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship and rapidly changing technologies, global business leader and inventor CJ Xuning Wang believes schools need a new model for learning.

Today, during the Bicentennial Celebration Weekend of Western Reserve Academy (WRA), Wang will unveil the next phase of this vision.

The entrepreneur, philanthropist and Chairman of SharkNinja is celebrating a second $5 million investment in WRA's innovation ecosystem, bringing The CJ Wang Family Foundation's total support for innovation and entrepreneurship at the school to $10 million. The gift will support a 16,000-square-foot expansion of the school's makerspace and innovation facilities and serves as the first step in a broader aspiration: creating a model that can inspire similar innovation centers at schools across the United States

"Western Reserve Academy is not the finish line," Wang said. "It is the beginning. The results here are clear, that students learn best when they are given the freedom to create, build, experiment and solve real problems."

The expanded facility at WRA, known as the Wang Makerspace, will serve as the centerpiece of WRA's new Center for Arts, Innovation and Humanity. The project reflects WRA and Wang's shared belief that future-ready education must combine technological fluency with creativity, ethics, communication and human-centered thinking.

Wang's vision is deeply informed by his own career as an engineer, inventor and entrepreneur. As founder of the home appliance company Joyoung, Wang invented the world's first automatic soy milk maker and built one of China's most successful consumer brands. Today he serves as Chairman and Refounder of SharkNinja, whose products are used by millions of households around the world.

His original gift established WRA's Wang Innovation Center in 2017, a facility that transformed teaching and learning on campus and became one of the school's defining educational spaces. Students use the makerspace to engage in robotics, engineering, digital fabrication, entrepreneurship, design thinking and emerging technologies. The center has become a model for interdisciplinary learning and is frequently cited by prospective families as a defining feature of the WRA experience.

Today's groundbreaking also celebrates two additional $1 million gifts that will establish the Hannah Han Artificial Intelligence Lab and the Jeanne Donovan Fisher Theater, as well as the support of the EE Ford Foundation for developing a center for Food Innovation, Service and Sustainability. Together these reinforce WRA's belief that technology and humanity should advance together.

"Our Bicentennial is not simply about honoring 200 years of history," said Suzanne Walker Buck, Head of School. "It is about imagining the next century of education. CJ Wang's vision challenges all of us to think bigger about how schools can cultivate innovators, creators and leaders. His investment in WRA is helping build a model that reaches far beyond our campus."

The groundbreaking will immediately follow another major Bicentennial milestone: the dedication of an official historical marker from the Ohio History Connection honoring Frederick Douglass and his landmark 1854 commencement address at Western Reserve College.

Together, the two ceremonies reflect the dual themes of WRA's Bicentennial year: honoring the pursuit of truth that shaped its past while investing in the innovation that will define its future.

Founded in 1826, Western Reserve Academy is Ohio's oldest boarding school and is celebrating its Bicentennial throughout 2026. The June 5 events follow a sold-out Bicentennial concert, Light and Truth, performed by The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Music Center. Learn more at WRA.net.

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SOURCE Western Reserve Academy