Students, staff and special guests of Camden County Technical School in Pennsauken celebrated the grand opening of the new culinary and baking wing on campus. Janelis Rogue, 16, of Camden, topped a chocolate pastry while the guests observed her at work in the new space. (Photo provided by Camden County Commissioners)
Students and staff at Camden County Technical School in Pennsauken, aka “Penn Tech,” celebrated the grand opening of the new culinary and baking wing at their campus last month.
The school’s $7.6 million expansion was funded through the Securing Our Children’s Future Bond Act and developed an area exclusively for baking and pastry arts in the main building’s first and second floors.
“This expansion will benefit our students greatly as they will have better access to programming that will prepare them for careers after graduation,” said Camden County Commissioner Jonathan Young, a liaison to CCTS. “This new baking and pastry arts area will give students the hands-on experience they need to find success.”
For current students like George Stewart, 17, of Pennsauken, the expansion will bring him closer to his dream of becoming a Culinary Chef.
The expansion added more than 20,000 square feet, including a culinary career lab on each floor, an instructional support and service simulation kitchen, two theory/instructional classrooms, cold storage, and student changing rooms.
All the areas have been completely built, and students moved into the new space in September 2024.
“The equipment we get to use in the new kitchens at CCTS is very close to what they use in the industry,” said Stewart, Class of 2025. “The small kitchen we were in our freshman year was original to the building that is almost 100 years old, so just imagine how exciting this upgrade is. The environment is on fire.”
In November 2018, New Jersey residents voted in favor of passing the Securing Our Children’s Future Bond Act to help districts like CCTS meet both student and employer demands for various career and technical education programming across the state.
In July 2021, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation to award $275 million in grants to expand career and technical education at 15 New Jersey county vocational-technical school districts.
A ribbon cutting ceremony marks the opening of the new Culinary Arts and Baking wing at Camden County Technical School’s Pennsauken Campus. Pictured left to right are Dalin Hackley, Outreach Director, US House of Representatives; Jonathan Young, Camden County Commissioner; Nicole Roberts, Mayor of Pennsauken; Wanda Pichardo, Superintendent; David Luthman, Board of Education President; Carmen Rodriguez, Camden County Superintendent of Schools and CCTS Board of Education member; and Jerry Silvi, Board of Education member. (Photo provided by Camden County Commissioners)
The grants are to fund construction projects for facilities that support county college Career and Technical Education (CTE) program enhancements by constructing or expanding classrooms, laboratories, libraries, computer facilities, and other academic structures to increase CTE program capacity and provide direct benefits to students.
Districts needed to secure a 25 percent match from their counties to pursue grant funding from the state. In this case, CCTS turned to the Camden County Board of Commissioners, who attended the Feb. 27 expansion celebration. The county match demonstrated local support for projects.
CCTS was among the districts chosen to receive funding to construct two additional buildings, one at each of their campuses.
But it would take three years before CCTS opened Manufacturing Engineering Technology as a new career program at its Gloucester Township campus last September.
That month, the school also moved its Culinary Arts career program into CCTS’s brand new space in the main building and began offering Baking/Pastry Arts as an independent career.
Cumberland County Technical Education Center in Vineland, Cumberland County, is another district receiving a grant from the Bond Act. The school is set to receive $7.65 million to go toward career and technical education expansion.
That school’s funding bill – S-3825 in the state Senate and A-4992 in the Assembly – was signed by Gov. Murphy on March 6.
“Any investment in education – and I’m a very big advocate of vocational education – is going to go a long way in helping someone have a better future,’ Democratic Sen. John Burzichelli, who represents parts of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland Counties, told The Sun Papers. “So the title [of the Bond Act] is really the right title for what we’re doing here. Investment in education, investment in kids, and in this case, investment in vocational education, is going to pay dividends for years.”
With its $7.6 million expansion, the CCTS in Pennsauken is opening new seats for 80 culinary arts students over four years and enrolling an additional 20 students in other career and technical programs.
By the end of 2028, the Pennsauken Campus will be able to accommodate 100 more students and increase enrollment by 14 percent, according to school officials.
“The hospitality industry is booming, and students enrolled in either of these career programs will learn skills and earn industry-valued credentials providing them with multiple pathways to enter directly into the workforce or continue in a post-secondary tract,” CCTS Superintendent Wanda Pichardo said in a statement.
Marcus Perez of East Camden is a direct product of the CCTS Pennsauken Campus, Class of 2014. Now Executive Chef at the Top Golf in Mt. Laurel, who also travels to the franchise’s other locations to train chefs and check that they are meeting all standards, Perez said the expansion at his alma mater opens up a world of new opportunities for students.
“This $8-million investment is a commitment to the future,” Perez said at last month’s expansion ceremony. “It’s a launch pad of innovation, discipline, and creativity, and will prepare students to hone their skills and leave their mark in the hospitality industry.”
This article originally appeared March 12, 2025 in The Sun Newspapers.
