New ACE Center building at Hermitage High opens for Henrico students

Henrico Schools opened its new 85,000-square-foot Advanced Career Education Center building at Hermitage High School on Jan. 8 for students in the Workforce & Career Development program.

The new facility, which sits in front of the old ACE Center building at Hermitage, has a modern concept with floor-to-ceiling glass windows and a big forum space with round tables at the entrance of the building that seats 400. Surrounding the forum are classrooms visible to visitors via the large glass windows that show a number of the center’s programs: culinary arts, video and media productions, web design, radio broadcasting, and more.

“It has taken about a year to get us to the point where we’re opening up the building today,” Hermitage ACE Center Principal Dale King said in a video on Henrico Schools’ social media. “We’re so excited to have all of our students come back in and enjoy a new building that’s state-of-the-art, that is just absolutely fabulous.”

“It’s really nice. It’s huge,” said Marek, a legal systems administration student at the center. “I mean, a new place outside of my school, so it’s really great to see. I like it here.”

While several classes have already moved into the first floor of the building, the second floor is still under construction and set to be completed during the 2026-2027 school year. Construction students will be able to work alongside contractors and workers to finish the upstairs, which will host all of Henrico CTE’s health and medical programs.

“Our students will have the opportunity to continue developing their commercial construction skills by using this space as their classroom lab for learning,” Henrico CTE Director Mac Beaton said. “When completed, the upstairs will become a state-of-the-art medical teaching facility allowing HCPS to expand the health and medical offerings we currently offer.”

The new ACE building is a part of the school division’s recent expansion of the CTE program in response to growing student interest. HCPS opened its new ACE Center building at Highland Springs High School at the start of this school year and is currently building a new ACE Center building for the Academy at Virginia Randolph, which is set to be completed in fall 2024.

Along with renovating the existing ACE Center at Highland Springs, the CTE program also renovated the Hudson Gym in the old Highland Springs High building, which will fit all trades-related courses in a real-world trades environment, Beaton said.

“To our knowledge, HCPS is the only school division to create this overlapping teaching environment where students in one trade area will have the opportunity to cross-train in other related trades programs,” Beaton said.

All three locations will allow Henrico CTE to host an additional 800 to 1,000 students, with Hermitage’s ACE Center holding up to 1300, ACE at Highland Springs holding up to 1,100, and ACE at Virginia Randolph holding up to 400.

The bigger buildings have also allowed some of the programs to bring in new equipment and technology.

“These guys have a French top, they have a huge six burner. I didn’t have that until I went to culinary school,” Chef Kate Chidester, who teaches the baking and pastry arts class at Hermitage ACE, said. “It puts you that much more ahead of somebody else who doesn’t know how to use a sheeter, or doesn’t know how to use a steam convection oven.”

“It’s very cool being in here. The kitchen is huge, it’s much bigger,” said Jordan, a student in Chidester’s class.

The space will make students feel more integrated into a real-life work environment rather than just being in a traditional school classroom, teachers said.

“I think they’re going to be absolutely stunned and motivated and I think that this space, creatively, is going to be so positive for them,” Victoria Gifford, who teaches radio and broadcast journalism at Hermitage ACE, said.

“Here, we’ve got room to maneuver. Kids could be spread out, they’re not bunched together, and it’s more set up as a real live working space,” Hermitage ACE Multimedia Graphic Design instructor Sheldon Glassner said. “If they leave from here and they go to any print shop, this is it. This is exactly what they’re going to see in the real workforce. And that makes all the difference in the world.”

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.