DANVILLE — A leader in the effort to bring a community college to The Valley says they are making progress. James Blankenship is acting president for the Susquehanna Valley Community Education Project. He says they like the location of the former girl’s school at St. Cyril Academy in Danville.
“We recognize that Danville has many strong points that would make it a good location for a campus of the community college,” Blankenship said. “The specific site is beautiful and appears to be a perfect site. We recognize the benefits of a campus in Danville, but whatever happens, we would like to have a health services branch to the community college, and proximity to Geisinger would make Danville an ideal spot for that.”
Blankenship says they are considering several locations in Sunbury as well, including the former Sunbury Middle School, a site at Fourth and Market Streets and another location in the North Fourth Street shopping plaza. He says no matter where they start their classes, the committee hopes to eventually have sites in multiple communities.
He says right now they are looking into a way to start classes this fall, “We are going to start what we call an incubation process. That process is necessary to go on for several years before the state will grant accreditation for a new community college. We think the best way to do that is to have another community college provide the teachers and we will provide the students and location.”
Blankenship says the group chose a board and officers last week, but they are still in need of a president. The group is also hoping to acquire sponsors for the community college. They will also be submitting their formal application to the state this year.
Along with being the acting president of the project, Blankenship is also Director of Cardiology at Geisinger Medical Center. (Codi Jade)