Lenape Tech Hosts Annual Expo

Senior Honors Chemistry student Cody Puz and Instructor Ken Barker explain the chemical mixture involved in creating a glow stick to high school students and guests to the Lenape Tech Business, Education and Technology Expo last night.

by Jonathan Weaver

After their parents cast their election ballots last night, many joined their students for the annual Business, Education and Technology Expo.

Dean of Students/Program Development Director James Purtell said vendors and instructors were on-hand to display the school and community’s capability.

“It’s an event we look forward to here at Lenape to showcase what we have to offer, as well as what the county and local communities can offer as well,” Purtell said.

Nearly 50 booths were spread throughout the hallways, including a ‘fair’ amount of new vendors as well as higher education facilities, including Triangle Tech, the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and Penn State – New Kensington.

Chemistry Instructor Ken Barker and nearly a dozen senior Honors Chemistry students presented ‘fun’ demonstrations for visitors.

Barker said his students annually show their smarts to the community as well.

“I started this – oh my – probably 15-20 years ago as a way of promoting our science program for people from the community and especially our incoming students for them to see what some of our top-end students are able to do in the chem(istry) programs here,” Barker said.

Senior Cody Puz of Templeton demonstrated his ‘aquamarine anaconda,’ a tube that glowed due to a chemical mixture with luminal, similar to the reaction produced creating a glow stick.

“I seen it going on in BioMed and I got curious,” Puz said.

Senior Ashley Laux of Ford City also found her project idea online, but wasn’t able to test it at home before last night’s expo.

“I wanted something to color-change and I found it,” Laux said. “I couldn’t try it at home – it was too dangerous. I’d blow something up, so we just tried it today and it worked.”

The student presentations were a precursor to one of their final grades. Barker explained.

“This is the first time these guys have presented. Normally, what we do is present in class – in other words, the students set up their demonstration and I have them sit down with one or two of their classmates, go through the demonstration and get critiqued. Then, normally, what we do is they present to the whole class over the last two weeks, but because of how Easter fell this year, we didn’t have time to do that; so, now they’re going to present to their classmates over the next couple days instead of before,” Barker said. “I was a little apprehensive because I didn’t know how everything was going to go…but I think they did a good job.”

Puz and Laux also felt they did well in the first-part of the 150-point projects, which Barker classified as a ‘significant portion of their last trimester grade.’

The Armstrong County 9-1-1Mobile Command Unit was also open for tours outside the school to the community and to recruit students from the Law Enforcement Information Technology (LEIT) program.

In his first year as Dean, Purtell enjoyed the expo.

“I thought it went very well – the exhibitors were very friendly, we had a pretty-good turnout from the community – a lot of prospective students that will be attending school here next year stopping by to meet their shop teachers. All-in-all, I thought it was a very well-rounded turnout,” Purtell said.

Graduation is scheduled for May 25.

Lenape Tech Purchases Land for New Adult Ed Building

A new Adult Education Center is to be built across the street from the existing Lenape Technical School instead of utilizing space in West Hills beside the Armstrong Educational Trust.

by Jonathan Weaver

The Lenape Technical School campus will officially be expanding.

As announced last night during the Joint Operating Committee meeting, land for a proposed-Adult Education Center has been acquired for $67,500 across the street from the current school facility.

Property negotiations have existed for approximately two years, according to Administrator Dawn Kocher-Taylor. She hopes to have more details regarding site development and preparation at their May committee meeting.

“We’re really down to pretty-specific layout of the inside of the building at this point, so we should be able to come back to you with a fairly-comprehensive plan and a timeline,” Kocher-Taylor said.

The property had been owned by Luby Gavron.

The acquisition was previously approved by the nine-member committee –who are representatives from all four districts. The panel took the resolutions back to their respective school boards, who also approved it.

Topographical maps and testing has also been performed.

Committee Chairperson Joseph Close – from the Armstrong School District – anticipated development.

“That’ll be great news- this has really been a long time coming,” Close said.

The committee wiill next apply for a subdivision of the property. That process may have already been started by Gavron, according to Solicitor Lee Price.

The structure will not be built of concrete block or corrugated steel, as per earlier committee discussions.

Graduation ceremonies will be held at 7PM May 25 within the school, but members discussed whether in the future it should be held off-site.

Since the gymnasium is not air-conditioned, Leechburg Area representatives questioned whether a ‘floating’ graduation between each of the sending school districts was possible.

Ceiling fans have been installed, but Kocher-Taylor did not know their effectiveness during a graduation ceremony full of students and parents.  

The school has rented a $5,000 portable air condition in the past, but reported it was ‘not as effective’ as originally thought.

Committee members have also considered graduating students at the Belmont Complex in East Franklin Township.

During the next month, committee members will also vote on the school’s general operating budget proposal, which is more than $7.2 million.

The 2012-13 budget will have to be approved by 2/3rds of the four member districts – Freeport, Armstrong, Leechburg Area and Apollo-Ridge – Joint Operating Committee members and a majority of the 36-member “super board,” which consists of all members of the four school boards.

The committee unanimously hired Karla S. Ansani, RN, as a substitute Practical Nursing Assistant Coordinator/Instructor at a rate of $33 per hour.

The Lenape Tech Joint Operating Committee also discussed possibly holding future graduation ceremonies at a different site due to the gymnasium not being air-conditioned.