By Charley Falkenburg, Staff Writer
The Princeton Learning Cooperative center will now be open later and will offer a wider variety of programs for the kids, thanks to its new bigger and roomier home in the All Saints Church.
The new location has more space and amenities giving staff the opportunity to store more equipment and electronics, expand the variety of activities and classes and keep the center’s doors open for an additional hour.
”The students love it; they are jumping up and down,” said Joel Hammon, co-director of Princeton Learning Cooperative. “Everyone got really excited for the extra hour.”
The staff has already started adding more activities by taking advantage of the new location’s kitchen something they never had at the Arts Council building. Mr. Hammond said students have begun taking cooking classes and love it.
”We even made curry potatoes today, it was really nice,” said Mr. Hammon. “The kids are really into cooking it’s a big thing.”
In addition to the kitchen, students have immediate access to the woods that gives them more options to do hands-on, nature-oriented activities such as hiking and woodworking.
By expanding the programs, the center is better able to help teenagers learn without traditional schools by giving them a tailored education based on their interests, abilities and goals.”We use totally personalized education plans based on where students want to go in life. A lot of the programming comes from the interests in the students and what the staff can offer,” said Mr. Hammon. “We exist to give alternatives to kids who don’t find traditional schools to be fulfilling for them.”
After using the Arts Council building for 18 months, Princeton Learning Cooperative officially moved into the new space on Feb. 16 to accommodate its increasing enrollment of students. Mr. Hammon said they started out with about eight students in September 2011 and grew to around 15 students to date.
”The Arts Council building was fantastic for space, but we outgrew it,” he said. “The space we had got really tight.”
When one of the center’s board of trustees members found out the French American Academy was moving out of the church into a different location. Princeton Learning Cooperative jumped on the opportunity to relocate.
Mr. Hammon estimated they are paying around $1,500 a month to use the church, which is around the same price they were paying for the Arts Council building.
Although the move is official, staff and students are still getting comfortable in their new surroundings. Students and staff continue to put together bookshelves, make room arrangement plans and acquire the necessary pieces of furniture that they now have the space to use.
Mr. Hammon hopes to have the physical set up of the space finished in a month because the center plans on holding a work party in March, where families will be invited to come and help paint.
But getting the center established and stable in Princeton isn’t the only goal of the alternative school.
”Our mission is to make this type of education an option for kids in every community in the country we want to start plopping more of these schools around in neighboring towns in different areas,” said Mr. Hammond. “We want to blow the whole concept up and make it an option for everyone.”
Princeton Learning Cooperative will be holding an open house this Saturday at 2 p.m. at its former space in the Arts Council building.

