washington township high school science symposium

Coghill said.Įntering the building is like returning to classes and the restrooms look like those in any relatively new high school. ''If it had been built for a professional theater in the first place, rather than for the students, there might have been some things we would have done differently, like changing the entrance way,'' Ms. Trisha Yearwood recently returned for the second successive year, commenting during the show in late June that she came back because the theater was so nice.

''A few people in town might have been skeptical at first,'' said Alice Coghill, spokeswoman for the district, ''but that didn't last long.'' And, if that were true, officials thought they could make some money on the deal. The size of the school population necessitated the replacement of the old auditorium, which seated only 600, and the relative wealth of the suburban residents east of Camden allowed the district to aim for the stars after voters approved a referendum.Īs the state-of-the-art theater, with excellent acoustics and sight lines, was being built for the students' use, it dawned on school officials that the building was perfectly suited for professional performances. The 2,500-seat auditorium, which is proudly labeled on the front of the building as Washington Township High School, was opened in 1998 and was used to connect two existing high schools, creating a complex to accommodate the district's 2,700 students. Country and rock stars, like Trisha Yearwood, Dwight Yoakam, Natalie Merchant, Barry Manilow and the Moody Blues, have performed here. The Washington Township Center for the Performing Arts is unlike any high school auditorium most people have ever seen, even though on any given school day it can be the setting for an all-class lecture or a school play.īut on some nights, the $7 million auditorium is the place to be in southern New Jersey for top quality professional musical or theatrical entertainment. THIS is not the kind of school auditorium your parents had assemblies in.

Washington township high school science symposium