New Early Learning Center at Immaculate Conception School, Pen Argyl

Pictured are, from left: front, children from the pre-school, kindergarten and first grade who stopped by to see the progress of the new center; second row, Mary Elchert, Father Joseph Kweder, Father James Prior, Father Thomas Prior, Monsignor Vincent York, Father Stephen Maco, Sister Maria Luz, Sister Maria Juveneeh, Sister Maria Kate and Monica Castone. (Photo courtesy of Stephanie Conte)

By TAMI QUIGLEY Staff writer

The school community of Immaculate Conception School, Pen Argyl is celebrating the new school building for the new Early Learning Center.

The new building will provide educational experiences for children of preschool age, kindergarten and first grade.
Groundbreaking occurred in November 2017 and was fully erected after the new year.

It is slated to be completed by the end of this school year, and students are expected to be in the building by September 2018.

Immaculate Conception School now educates children from preschool to eighth grade.
The school has maintained a strong Catholic identity and character primarily due to the presence of Dominican Sisters from the Philippines.

Priests who visited the site recently were: Father Joseph Kweder, administrator of St. Rocco, Martins Creek; Congregation of the Missions (Vincentian Fathers, C.M.); Father James Prior, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Roseto; Congregation of the Missions Father Thomas Prior, assistant pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel; Monsignor Vincent York, pastor of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Pen Argyl; and Father Stephen Maco, pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Bangor.

Also present from the school were Dominican Daughters of the Immaculate Mother (O.P.) Sister Maria Luz, principal; OP Sister Maria Juveneeh; OP Sister Maria Kate; and teachers Mary Elchert and Monica Castone.