Joplin High School
After three years in temporary campuses as a result of the 2011 tornado, Joplin High School opened at 2104 Indiana Ave. on September 2, 2014. The new facility combines a college, career and technology focused education along with Franklin Technology Center. The formal ribbon cutting ceremony was held on October 3, 2014. Vice President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan attended the ceremony and spoke to the crowd. A ribbon representing the destructive path of the 2011 tornado was a part of the ceremony. Joplin High School Student Council President Sadie Wallner cut the ribbon.
Tornado outbreak of April 14–16, 2011
The outbreak was the deadliest tornadic event in the United States since the 2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak that occurred on February 5 and 6, 2008, when 57 people were killed across four states. In North Carolina, the outbreak was the state's largest since March 1984. Describing the outbreak, AccuWeather meteorologist Henry Margusity said, "There has not been a tornado outbreak in history over three days with this many tornadoes spawned by a single storm system". That record would later be smashed by the 2011 Super Outbreak that occurred just over a week after this outbreak.