Camden County Technical Schools Pennsauken Campus, also known as Pennsauken Tech, originally Camden County Vocational School, is a four-year regional vocational-technicalpublichigh school located in Pennsauken Township, in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from across Camden County as part of the Camden County Technical Schools. The schools main building opened in 1928 at a time when most county residents lived near Camden and was the district's only campus until the Camden County Technical Schools Gloucester Township Campus opened in 1969 to serve more rural, eastern portions of the county.[3] In 2011, the campus opened the Science and Horticultural Center building to act as a multiple-classroom extension unit. Etched high-up into a portion of the front face of the school's main building is "He who hath a trade, hath an estate," a quote from Benjamin Franklin.
As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 769 students and 68.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.3:1. There were 505 students (65.7% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 91 (11.8% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
Bronze Medal from U.S. News & World Report in 2012 and 2013.[5]
Named a New Jersey School of Character 2013, one of three high schools statewide to receive this honor.[6]
Athletics
The Pennsauken Tech Tornadoes[2] compete in the Olympic Conference, an athletic conference consisting of public and private high schools located in Burlington County, Camden County and Gloucester County. Sister school and archrival, Camden County Tech Warriors also competes in the Olympic Conference.[7] The Olympic Conference operates under the aegis of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[8] With 611 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group II for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 486 to 758 students in that grade range.[9] The school mascot is the Tornado, but members of the school had formerly been known as the Tradesmen for the majority of its existence.
School colors are maroon, white and gray. Interscholastic athletics include boys'/girls' cross country, baseball, bowling, boys'/girls' basketball, softball and boys'/girls' volleyball.[2]
The boys' baseball team won the NJVTAC state championship in back-to-back years, in 1997 and 1998.[citation needed]
^Hand, Christopher. "Seeking racial balance on campus",The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 15, 1989. Accessed March 4, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The Pennsauken campus is about the size of a typical, urban high school, occupying a space the size of a large city block. It was built in 1928, when most of Camden County's population was centered on the largest city in South Jersey: Camden. Back then, mostly farms existed east of Camden. The Gloucester Township campus was constructed in 1969, when development started to stretch out to the far eastern portion of the county, according to Superintendent of Schools R. Sanders Haldeman."
^AboutArchived September 1, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Camden County Technical Schools. Accessed May 30, 2013. "In addition, our Pennsauken Campus was named New Jersey's only high school in 2012 'Distinguished Title 1 High School' by the New Jersey Department of Education and the United States Department of Education."
^NewsArchived December 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Camden County Technical Schools. Accessed May 30, 2013. "The Pennsauken Campus of CCTS (Penn Tech) was one of three high schools in the State of New Jersey to receive a New Jersey School of Character award and banner from the New Jersey Alliance for Social, Emotional, and Character Development."
^Member Schools, Olympic Conference. Accessed July 30, 2017.
^"Jersey Jotter", Courier-Post, February 20, 1988. Accessed November 6, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "Camden resident Michellene Davis, a 10th grade student from the Pennsauken Campus of Camden County Vocational and Technical Schools, received ninth honors as Ms. Future Business Leader in the Southern Regional competitions of Future Business Leaders of America, which is a national business organization for high school business students."
