We were excited to help design and expand the ever-growing high school of Berks Catholic located in Reading, PA. Berks Catholic High School was a result of Holy Name and Central Catholic high schools merging, and since the founding of the school in 2011, it has been seen by students and staff that they would need more space with enrollment roughly growing by twelve percent and by 2024 the enrollment is projected to be around 905 students. This meant an expansion was needed to the high school, which resulted in the John R. Post Learning Center.
The entire project ended up costing an estimated seven million dollars with the learning center being named after John R. Post who, with his wife, donated two million dollars for the expansion! By the addition of the learning center, the existing school has obtained a new modern two-story add-on, which includes a new McGlinn Learning Commons, conference rooms, cafeteria expansion with a new exterior patio area, six classrooms; one being a new STEM lab and a new track and turf field for the students of Berks Catholic.
On October 7th, to celebrate the construction of the new expansion, the parents and students of Berks Catholic, Bishop Schlert, former alumni, and donors who contributed to the project came together for the Dedication of the new addition. Not only did the expansion of the school excite students and staff alike, it also brought the community together in a way where they worked alongside each other over time to better the community of Berks Catholic High School. The Capital Campaign fundraiser for the new addition started back in December of 2015 and slowly gained traction until the main contribution from from John R. Post in May of 2017. The project broke ground May 21, 2017 and was substantially completed in August 2018. This means the entirety of the project took about three years to complete, start to finish!
On Sunday, November 4th, 1pm – 3pm they will be hosting a Fall Open House! This is a great time to visit the school, see the new addition and get to know more about the community of Berks Catholic. Be sure to check out the new spaces and see what the school environment is all about!
Watkins Architect is a local architectural firm that can handle everything from designing your project to managing it. Watkins Architect handles all types of architecture projects from residential, commercial and industrial to religion, townships and educational. Browse through our portfolio to find out what architecture projects we have completed.