Huntingdon County Chamber of Commerce

One of the greatest assets of the Huntingdon area is its public and private educational institutions.

Huntingdon is the home of Juniata College, a 1,200 student liberal arts college with a national reputation. The University Park campus of The Pennsylvania State University is just 30 miles from downtown Huntingdon. Six school districts serve the surrounding county with K through 12 education. DuBois Business College maintains a local campus as well.

Huntingdon County is served by four public school districts, the Huntingdon Area School District, Juniata Valley School District, Mount Union Area School Dsitrict and Southern Huntingdon County School District. All four schools provide education for grades K through 12.

"If you're a student who wants to get lost in the crowd, you're not going to like it here. We're not going to let anyone hide in or fall through the cracks." That's one of the advantages of attending Huntingdon County's public schools, as described by a local high school guidance counselor.

Two municipalities in the northwestern corner of the county are part of the Tyrone Area School District, headquartered in Blair County, and seven municipalities in the southwestern corner of the county are included in Bedford County's Tussey Mountain School District.

The high schools in the Huntingdon County districts offer academic, business, vocational-agriculture, and vocational-technical curricula.

The four county districts are joint owners and operators of the Huntingdon County Career and Technology Center located in Mill Creek. Technology Center students spend half a day at their home schools and the other half at the Center.

Enrollments in all the schools are low enough and the staffing high enough that students receive personal attention from instructors and support staff. That may explain the remarkably low drop-out rate among Huntingdon County students—averaging less than three percent. Guidance counselors report that graduates wishing to attend post-secondary schools are well prepared for and well received at those institutions.

Although the local districts never have an easy time making financial ends meet, the school boards have not tried to cut costs by sacrificing field trips, arts and humanities programs, and extracurricular activities. Students can choose from a large number of athletic, theatrical, scholarly and musical organizations.

Each district offers programs for exceptional children, both the academically gifted and the academically and physically challenged. Some of these programs are run in association with the Tuscarora Intermediate Unit, a centralized provider of academic services. The Intermediate Unit also provides the districts with a large library of audio-visual materials that the districts would be unable to afford individually. All the county's districts are members of the "Access Pennsylvania" electronic interlibrary loan program, through which library materials can be borrowed from hundreds of other participating libraries.

Some of the county's gifted children participate in the "Odyssey of the Mind" program, in which youngsters demonstrate their knowledge of science and humanities at creative and challenging competitions. Advanced senior high students can take courses at area colleges. The schools frequently host guest artists and hobbyists, and class projects are often undertaken with the assistance of specialists from the community.

Each summer Juniata College sponsors the New Visions and Voyages educational camps for children aged 4-7 and 8-10, respectively. Participants are introduced to subjects of their choice, including astronomy, geology, poetry, foreign languages, and many others.

Two christian schools operate in Huntingdon County: Calvary Christian Academy, operated by Calvary Independent Baptist Church, and Huntingdon Christian Academy, operated by Emmanuel Bible Church. Both schools have K-12 academic programs and limited sports programs.

Several protestant denominations support the Belleville Mennonite School in neighboring Mifflin County. Students wanting to attend a catholic school can commute to Altoona or Hollidaysburg in neighboring Blair County.

The Grier School, located in Birmingham Borough, is a non-sectarian college-preparatory boarding school for girls in grades 7 through 12. Grier has an international student body, with nearly 40 percent of the 215 students from foreign counties. The school welcomes area residents to attend as commuting students.

Huntingdon Borough is home to Juniata College, a four-year co-educational, independent, liberal arts college that is highly regarded for academic excellence. Juniata has an annual enrollment of 1,500, with 82 percent living on campus.

The college offers traditional bachelor of science and bachelor of arts programs, but it also allows students to create their own "program of emphasis," combining multiple academic programs. Juniata's natural science program is particularly well respected, and its placement rate into medical, dental and veterinary schools averages 90 percent. Class sizes are small, with an average student-to-teacher ratio of 11:1. Although many faculty members are engaged in research, their first commitment is to teaching.

DuBois Business College was established in 1885 by J. N. Woolfington. The Huntingdon Campus was opened in October 1996. DuBois is a college with a fine heritage and tradition of quality education, specializing in technical training, granting degrees and accredited by ACICS. The college's mission is to provide quality education that is effective for a successful business career.

The main campus of Penn State houses roughly 44,000 students who attend graduate and undergraduate classes at University Park. PSU is both a research and teaching institution, with course offerings in 11 colleges and schools. Among its outstanding programs are agricultural sciences, business, engineering, and meteorology.

Other colleges and institutions within commuting distance are Shippensburg University in Cumberland County; Penn State's Altoona Campus, Blair County; Mount Aloysius College, Cambria County; and Saint Francis College, Cambria County. Occasionally colleges located outside the county will offer satellite courses here.

Juniata College offers an outstanding tuition discount to academically-qualified adults who have been out of high school at least five years. Adult students can take any of the college's classes at half the normal tuition rates.

Adults are welcome to enroll in any of the daytime secondary programs offered at the Huntingdon County Career and Technology Center or in the institutions post-secondary nursing program. During the fall and spring, the Career and Technology Center sponsors a series of vocational and hobby classes, meeting one or two nights a week.