PDE Charter Chief Visits LP: State Official Randy Seely Makes a Highlight Reel Tour of Campus

Randy Seely, the the division chief of the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Division of Charter Schools, took a tour of Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School Thursday, accompanied by student admissions ambassadors Sydney Ciencin (left) and Felicity Portoulas.

For more than three hours Thursday, a top state official got a chance to go behind the scenes at LP—from backstage to a TV studio, from jazz and choral rehearsals to a student-run press.

Randy Seely, the division chief of the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Division of Charter Schools, traveled from Harrisburg and toured Lincoln Park Thursday, observing the school during a typical morning.

“This is the best part of my job—getting to visit a school and see students do what they love,” Seely said.

Seely spent more than three hours on campus Thursday. He was accompanied by two of Lincoln Park’s student Admissions Ambassadors: senior musical theatre major Sydney Ciencin of Aliquippa, and sophomore Writing & Publishing major Felicity Portoulas of Baden. The group escorted Seely around campus, to visit a variety of classes and locations.

The tour group stopped in to see theatre teacher Joe York’s stage combat class; visited a contemporary dance course in the Rehearsal Hall; and saw Grammy Award winner Eric DeFade conducting the school’s jazz ensemble. They also visited the gym, home to science classrooms and LP’s four-time state championship boys’ basketball team.

In addition, Seely visited the home of BatCat Press, the nation’s only high school student-run small press, where he was presented with a copy of Big Fish author Daniel Wallace’s How to Build a Coffin (And Other Love Stories), published by BatCat in 2023.

And the group spent some time in the school’s extensive media suite, where instructor Lil Pontis shared the history of memorabilia donated by multiple Academy Award winner Joe Letteri (Lord of the Rings, Avatar, King Kong), an Aliquippa native.

Chief School Administrator P.K. Poling said he was proud of the chance to show off his school to Seely.

“Our kids do amazing things every day,” he said. “But sometimes, when you take a tour like this one, you get to appreciate how special this place is all over again.”

Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School is a tuition-free public charter school located in Midland, PA, and open to all Pennsylvania families. Students grades 7-12 are bused from more than 90 different school districts to study the arts concentration of their choice: theatre, writing and publishing, media arts, health science and the arts, music, dance, and pre-law and the arts.

For more information, visit lppacs.org or contact: admissions@lppacs.org