New, Three-Night Open Houses Draw Crowds

The Lancaster County Career & Technology Center implemented a new, and successful, three-night format this year for its annual Open Houses. The annual event attracted prospective students and their families to each of the CTC’s campuses on successive evenings in November. According to preliminary data collected at registration stations at each campus, more students attended this year than they did at each of the last two Open House events.

The new format, where each main campus had its own evening, was conceived in the spring of 2019. It came about as a result of suggestions from Open House attendees. LCCTC administrators had heard that Open House attendees who were interested in information on multiple CTC programs were rushing through an event at one campus and driving across the county to attend another campus and get information on a different program. Multiple evenings for the Open Houses seemed the obvious solution. (The Health Sciences Campus held their open house the same evening as the Willow Street campus. Additionally, the Health Science Campus holds regular, monthly open houses on their own.)

There were 364 student registrations in total for the Open House events. Including parents and other guests, CTC administrators estimate that over 1,000 people attended the three-night event. Some of those registrations were the same students and families attending more than one campus event. On preliminary review of the registration data, one student from Donegal School District attended each of the Open Houses and got information on Cabinetmaking and Wood Technology at Brownstown, Health Care at Willow Street, and Early Childhood Education at Mount Joy. Another student from Warwick School District attended Computer System Technology and Cabinetmaking and Wood Technology at Brownstown, Diesel Equipment Technology at Willow Street, and Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technology at Mount Joy.