Lenape Tech opening center for adult training Thursday in Manor
Lenape Technical School in Manor on Thursday will open its nearly $2 million adult education center that has been under construction for a year.
The NexTier Bank Adult Education Center across the street from the school at 2215 Chaplin Ave. will have about 120 adult students in its nursing, medical office assistant, phlebotomy, pharmacy technician and commercial driving programs, school Executive Director Dawn Kocher-Taylor said.
The school has been offering classes for adults at the West Hills Commons in East Franklin and paying $60,000 to $95,000 per year in rent since 2000, depending on how much space they needed, Kocher-Taylor said. Career training for high school students from the Armstrong, Freeport, Apollo-Ridge and Leechburg districts is done in the Manor school building.
“Our adult program has been covered by tuition and is completely self-sustaining,” Kocher-Taylor said. “Our adult education tuition has been paying our rent. Now it will now be used to pay our mortgage instead. We were able to build it without using any tax dollars.”
The center was built with a $1.8 million loan from NexTier Bank that will be paid over the next 20 years. NextTier donated $40,000 for the purchase of furniture and equipment in three classrooms. The building will carry the NextTier name for five years as a result of the donation, Kocher-Taylor said.
“We look at this building as an investment to helping enhance our workforce in Armstrong County,” Kocher-Taylor said. “With this building, we'll be able to offer more adult training than we have before. When we have more people trained, that means more people are bringing in a living income and spending money in the county, which is good for everyone.”
NexTier Bank President and CEO Rich Krauland said bank officials made the donation after Kocher-Taylor called to explain the school didn't have enough equipment to fill all the building's classrooms.
“This school and its training programs are worth investing in,” Krauland said. “We think giving those students state-of-the-art equipment to learn on is going to be best for them and this entire community in the long run.”
Kimberly Doms, the school's practical nursing coordinator, said adult education enrollment was limited by the amount of space the school had at West Hills Commons.
“Now that we have the room, we'll be able to develop and offer more classes very quickly,” Doms said. “We will also be able to hold bigger classes, which will be helpful when we offer continuing education or recertification classes with larger companies.”
Although the doors are opening Thursday, Kocher-Taylor said officials will continue making improvements to the building. For example, students from the school's natural resources technology classes will help develop its landscaping plans.
“We're trying to remain as practical as we can, so we'll be doing more things as we can afford them,” Kocher-Taylor said.
Brad Pedersen is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-543-1303, ext. 1337, or bpedersen@tribweb.com.
