Youngstown cuts ribbon on Choffin school’s $10.4M renovation

By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

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 today at a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The $10.4 million Choffin facelift 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.

Special needs pre-school children, adults and secondary students from eight school districts attend Choffin.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.