Choffin center renovation gets good reviews for quality results

By Elise Mckeown Skolnick

The $10.4 million renovation upgraded many programs for the school.

YOUNGSTOWN — The newly renovated Choffin Career & Technical Center is important to the community, said Youngstown’s superintendent of schools.

“There are a lot of great things that happen in this building,” Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent, told about 100 spectators Sunday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The $10.4 million Choffin face-lift is part of a $190 million, 14-building new construction and renovation program in the district.

“The children that come out of Choffin are equipped to go to college, if that’s what they choose,” Webb said. “But they are also equipped with technical skills so that they can go out into life and work.”

About 80 percent of the money for the project came from the Ohio School Facilities Commission. The remaining portion was paid for through a local bond issue.

The updates to Choffin were eight years in the making, said Joseph Meranto, director of the school.

“We’re able to provide more state-of-the art programs, programs of the future,” he said.

The project included updates to lab facilities, Meranto said.

The renovation was a joint design project of Ralph Tyler Companies and the Architectural Vision Group.

Adults and secondary students and special-needs preschool children from eight school districts attend Choffin.

“We have different cultures, different backgrounds,” Meranto said. “They all come together, work together.”

“I think it’s very nice,” said China Thomas, 17, of Campbell. “When I first came in here, it was kind of dull, but now everything is bright, and I like the school.”

Thomas has attended Choffin for two years and is studying health technology.

“I think it’s beautiful. They really did a nice job,” agreed Hayley Rebic, 17, Youngstown. “It wasn’t bad last year, but this year, it’s a lot nicer. Everything’s more put together and not as hectic as it was the first year.”

She is in her second year of a business technology program.

There are 515 high school students and 200 full-time adult students attending Choffin. Twenty-one high school and five adult programs are offered. At 218,000 square feet, it is the largest of the district’s buildings.

The school first opened in 1953.