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.
2011 Hackleburg–Phil Campbell tornado
The 2011 Hackleburg–Phil Campbell tornado was a violent, long-track EF5 wedge tornado that devastated several towns in northern Alabama, United States, before tearing through the northern suburbs of Huntsville and causing damage in rural portions of southern Tennessee on the afternoon and early evening of Wednesday, April 27, 2011. It was the deadliest tornado of the 2011 Super Outbreak, the largest tornado outbreak in United States history. The tornado reached a maximum width of and was estimated to have had peak winds of . The tornado killed 72 people, making it the deadliest tornado in Alabama history, and injured at least 145 others. It was the deadliest tornado to strike the U.S. since the Udall, Kansas tornado of 1955 until the catastrophic tornado on May 22, 2011, which killed 158 people in Joplin, Missouri.