January 12, 2012

GOODWIN BREAKS GROUND ON CT RIVER ACADEMY IN EAST HARTFORD

Be Melissa Traynor, Hartford Courant

Praising Goodwin College as a driver of development and opportunity, the governor and local officials helped break ground on Wednesday at the construction site of Connecticut River Academy on the college campus.

The $57 million, 103,000-square-foot magnet high school is the first of the college's three magnet schools to be under construction — Goodwin's extended campus will eventually include an early childhood school and another magnet high school focused on technology.

Goodwin College officials said that students from 25 towns around the state attend the academy, where programs largely focus on the river to its west and environmental sciences.

"We were approached by the state Department of Education in response to the [Sheff v. O'Neill] settlement to consider constructing a magnet school here and incorporating the theme of the magnet school into what the college was doing, particularly around environmental studies," said Todd Andrews, vice president of college relations and advancement.

The point was to create a model that would enable high school students to graduate with college course credits, he said.

Local legislators said they value the college's contributions not only for the educational opportunities it brings to East Hartford, but for its impact, financially and otherwise, on the surrounding neighborhoods.

Rep. Henry Genga speaks at groundbreaking ceremony for the new magnet high school to be built the Goodwin College campus.

"I remember previous mayors saying [that] to develop that place you'd have to just completely bulldoze it and start it over," said Rep. Henry Genga, whose 10th District includes Goodwin College.

"In five to 10 years, you're going to have a much different view of East Hartford and a better quality of life."

Goodwin's dean of magnet schools, Alan Kramer, has said that the academy really is woven into the "fabric" of the college.

Ultimately, academy attendance will grow to 480 students, officials said. Its permanent building, which will be placed on what is known as the former Ambassador Limousine property, will house nine college-level science labs, a university-style lecture hall and a "green roof" with garden space, among other things.

"This is a college that recognizes as its core mission that Connecticut has to be competitive," said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

He added that giving high school students like those at the Connecticut River Academy access to college courses and sharpening their skills is a part of "turning Connecticut around" — something that would include creating more jobs to keep young people in the state.

The construction project and leadership by Goodwin College President Mark Scheinberg was praised for a commitment to local contractors and firms by all of the ceremony's speakers.