The LEAP Academy Charter School cut the ribbon on their fifth downtown Camden building Wednesday and it's one that's on the cutting edge of education and technology.
CAMDEN -- If Cooper Street is Camden's "avenue of education," as boosters touted it Wednesday, then the most recent addition ensures that road is going to run for a very long time.
The LEAP Academy Charter School cut the ribbon on their fifth downtown Camden building and it's one that's on the cutting edge of education and technology.
"This is not about me. This is about rebuilding this town," said Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, who founded LEAP in 1997 and saw the school that now inhabits Camden's first skyscraper named after her.
From city and state officials to future program graduates, LEAP's grand opening showed off what can be done inside the new Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) Campus.
1) The academy's past: Following the state's approval of charter schools nearly 20 years ago, LEAP started out with a little more than 300 students learning in trailers at 7th and Linden streets.
"You have no idea what the building looked like a month ago or a year ago," Bonilla-Santiago said of the Wilson Building, which was built in 1926, housed companies such as Coca-Cola and Miller Brewing and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
Now, the academy boasts more than 1,400 students from kindergarten through 12th grade. LEAP can tout a 100 percent graduation rate and 100 percent college placement rate for 11 years in a row.
2) The city's future: Exhibit A of what LEAP can do is Omar Samaniego, a 2012 graduate and Rutgers-Camden student who entered the program in 2004 and now plans to attend law school in the coming months. He is among 70 LEAP graduates enrolled at Rutgers-Camden, which is expanding across the city, but has a main campus across the street from the academy's newest building.
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Holtec International, which is building a footprint on the Port of Camden, is "going to need the best and brightest minds" among city resident when they begin a vocational program inside Camden schools, Congressman Donald Norcross said.
Additional school resources include a college access center, conference and events center on the building's top floor, a family support training center, health and wellness center that is partnered with Rutgers and a fitness center that's open to families of students.
"We're building a true resource that can be used by the people of Camden," Bonilla-Santiago said.
3) The avenue of education: Across 12 floors, education and planning for the future was being carried out Wednesday.
"Cooper Street is not what is was in the 1980s and 1990s," Bonilla-Santiago said.
"It is the education corridor that I believe is helping to stimulate transformation in Camden," said Camden Mayor Dana Redd, adding that a recent meeting with Holtec officials touched on STEAM education.
Also in attendance Wednesday were Camden City School District Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard, Rutgers-Camden Chancellor Phoebe Haddon and Evo Popoff, state charter schools assistant commissioner. With Rutgers-Camden, Camden County College and Rowan College outposts all along Cooper Street, it was hard to argue against the the educational corridor moniker.
4) The cutting edge: Showing off iPhone cases they designed in the STEAM building's fabrication laboratory, biomedical track students Jamira Greene and Jayla Mann said the school is setting up students to be future leaders in their chosen field.
"What school do you get to go to where you can make your own phone case?" Mann, 17, of Mount Laurel, said.
The numerous 3-D printers set up around the laboratory used pre-rendered designs that can then be customized by the students. The length of the printing process can range, but the two said that a new phone case could be completely printed and ready to for use within a few hours.
Asked about Camden's reputation as a dangerous plade, Mann said, "I was a little afraid but when I came here -- it's not like that."
"These people here are going to be a generation that changes Camden," added Greene, 17, of Cherry Hill.
Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.