Kinzers, PA — Central Penn Business Journal has selected Pequea Valley Secondary School as a recipient of its 2026 Top Projects Award, recognizing one of the region’s most outstanding building and construction achievements completed between January and December 2025.
The Top Projects program highlights exceptional work across Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, and York counties and celebrates projects that demonstrate lasting value and regional impact. Winners are chosen by the editors of Central Penn Business Journal based on criteria including project difficulty, design creativity, innovation in construction, collaboration, management, adaptive reuse, and sustainability.
“The 2026 Top Projects winners reflect how innovation, design, and construction continue to shape Central Pennsylvania’s growth,” said Suzanne Fischer-Huettner, managing director of BridgeTower Media/Central Penn Business Journal. “This year’s honorees have delivered impressive projects that positively impact the region.”
About the Project
Pequea Valley Secondary School serves grades 7–12 in a unified facility supporting approximately 700–750 students. The design required a disciplined planning approach to balance school identity, security, operational efficiency, and instructional flexibility within a compact footprint.
The project addressed several key challenges, including the organization of grade-level zones, equitable access to shared programs such as related arts and physical education, minimization of cross traffic between age groups, and the preservation of outdoor learning spaces. The resulting solution features vertically stacked academic pods with classrooms clustered around collaboration zones, small group rooms, and support spaces—enhancing flexibility and reducing transition time.
The facility also incorporates strategic program adjacencies, aligning science, agriculture, CORE, STEM, and technical education spaces to encourage interdisciplinary instruction and shared resource use.
At the heart of the building is a multi purpose student commons, functioning as a cafeteria, study space, informal collaboration area, and assembly venue. A clerestory system introduces daylight into interior areas without exterior walls, supporting both comfort and energy efficiency. The commons include layered spatial zones—from a two story active environment to quieter adjacent areas and enclosed glass rooms for focused work—while enabling passive supervision and integrated security.
Outdoor learning environments further extend the educational experience through outdoor classrooms, a CORE construction yard, greenhouse, and agriculture yard, all of which support hands on, experiential learning.
The completed facility stands as a cohesive, efficient, and flexible secondary school designed to support collaboration, security, and high quality learning.
