The New School

There was ample reason to rejoice at the Aug. 25 ribbon-cutting of the Chester Charter School for the Arts’s new three-story, 90,000-square-foot building: The nonprofit K–12 public charter school can now offer more than ever to its almost 600 students.

Swarthmorean ties run deep to CCSA, which was founded in 2012. The idea began with the work of John Alston H’15 and Maurice Eldridge ’61 with support from Jeff Scheuer ’75, Jane Lang ’67, and The Chester Fund for Education and the Arts.

The original CCSA building, located in Aston, was smaller, serving only kindergartners through fifth-graders, who had to be bused in. The new school building—complete with dance studios, science labs, and a gym—now serves Chester children in their hometown.

Among the Swarthmoreans dedicated to the program’s success are CCSA capital campaign leaders Barbara Klock ’86 and Salem Shuchman ’84, as well as Joe ’73 and Lana Everett Turner ’74, who donated in honor of friends Peter and Peggy Thompson, a professor emeritus and a longtime Swarthmore staffer.