Central Montco Technical High School has launched the careers of countless craftsmen and professionals since the school opened 50 years ago, and hundreds of CMTHS alums are actively making their mark in fields ranging from the culinary arts and cosmetology to a variety of automotive and building trades, IT and medicine.

On May 1, the Plymouth Township-based school will honor five of these former students by inducting them into the CMTHS Distinguished Alumni Association, writes M. English in The Times Herald.

According to a history compiled by former director Paul Ruzicka, the CMTHS (then Central Montgomery County Vocational Technical School) teaching staff consisted of 19 instructors when the school welcomed its first students from Norristown Area, Plymouth Whitemarsh, Upper Merion Area, Bishop Kenrick and Archbishop Kennedy high schools. Robert Newell had succeeded Robert Aiken as school principal and held that position until 1977, when the role was assumed by John Williams and, later, Ruzicka.

CMTHS Director R. Walter Slauch will wind up nearly two decades at the school’s helm in July, when successor Seth Schram takes over. During the early days of the current school year, Slauch reflected on “the value of career and technical education and the endless possibilities and opportunities it gives young people.”

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