PARIS — Oxford Hills Nezinscot Adult Education held a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house last Thursday to celebrate its move to Oxford Plaza. Its new offices are in the same space previously occupied by Maine Administrative School District 17’s Central Office team.

Tina Christophersen, Oxford Hills/Nezinscot Adult Ed’s director for the last eight years, gave nickel tours of the organization’s new home at Oxford Plaza during last week’s ribbon-cutting and open house. Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat

Previously Adult Ed was located at Oxford Hill Comprehensive High School, operating out of the main office there.

Nestled into a corner of the shopping center between Label Shopper and Daddy O’s Diner, SAD 17’s alternative education program, Streaked Mountain School, has also relocated from its previous home in South Paris. Both education groups moved last August.

Now that Adult Ed has its own dedicated office and classrooms, Director Tina Christophersen said they will better able to serve students in its most popular courses, including High School Equivalency Test (HiSET), commercial driver licenses and certified nursing assistants, and develop new opportunities for professional work force training and personal enrichment.

“The whole atmosphere here is relaxed,” said Connie Staples, one of Adult Ed’s secretaries. “The students are super excited.”

“We have found that a lot of students who didn’t have good experiences in high school didn’t like going back into that building,” Christopherson explained. “It shouldn’t be that way … it can be a barrier for some students are working to better their world. The move here has been a big benefit for many of them.”

At Oxford Plaza’s Suite 6, Adult Ed staff are free to hold classes in meeting rooms without having to plan around OHCHS’ room schedules and each employee has their own office and workspace, another big change.

Oxford Hills/Nezinscot Adult Ed’s new headquarters has dedicated meeting, testing/assessment and classrooms. Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat

A priority this fall was to get settled, install technology and get organized. Academic classes have been held Monday through Thursday during the day and two evenings a week. Now Christophersen and her staff will turn their attention to expanding workforce education and training.

“We’ve seen big demand for truck driver training,” Christophersen said. “And we still are. We had so many signing up last spring we had to add a daytime class. There was no room at the high school, so we had to rent a space at the Oxford Congregational Church and hold them over there. We’ve had five over there, doubling up on both our truck driver training and our instructor training.”

Going forward all classes will be held under one roof, with dedicated rooms for HiSET and assessment testing, academics and meetings.

Coming early next year, Adult Ed will start offering a heat pump and solar technology program, courtesy of a federal grant that will supply equipment and training materials. Tuition to the program will be free until the grant is exhausted; after that point there will be an enrollment fee.

The new space includes a kitchen and dining area, a corner stocked with donated food pantry items and a coat closet for students in need of winter gear.

Christophersen looks forward to revamping personal enrichment classes, which withered under the stress of the pandemic.

“We lost a lot of those classes to COVID,” she explained. “We want to hear from the community about what people would like to see for classes, but only from instructors who want to teach them.”