Former Rochester bowling alley transforms into charter school

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – A local charter school celebrated opening up in a new space: a former bowling alley.

The Academy of Health Sciences Charter School has been operating for five years.

On Saturday, it celebrated its relocation from Lake Avenue to the old Terrace Garden Lanes on Ridgeway Avenue.

“Her reaction is through me, ’cause I used to bowl here, and so I told her, I said, ‘I’m just amazed at how this was transformed into a school, you know?” Assistant Principal Dr. Jonathan Sharp said.

Its previous building was shared with another school. Administrators say this is all part of their commitment to Rochester families.

“One of the things that touches me the most, are the parents who tell us, ‘I’ve driven by the school so many times. I watched it become a school – turn from a bowling alley, where many of us bowled for years myself included – to become this new space in the community,'” Wanda Perez-Brundage, founding principal, said. “That’s really got them excited.”

The school serves grades five through eight. School starts on Sept. 6th.