After going to Louisiana to play college basketball and California for a job, Leslie native Erika Ernst has returned home and is turning a 46,000 square foot historic building into a preparatory school for top-notch athletes.
Ernst is rehabbing the old school building on Woodworth Street in Leslie. She plans to open the Ernst Preparatory School in October.
“It’s not just a school boarding program for student athletes,” she says. “It’s only for high-level student athletes.”
The school will train students in baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, cheer and dance. This year, Ernst is accepting eighth through tenth graders. Eventually, she’ll accept post-graduate athletes.
Ernst likens the program to popular tennis programs where the athletes work with the same coaches and trainers throughout their training. She has a trainer and strength coordinator who works with the Detroit Pistons and the Detroit Tigers lined up to work at the school and is recruiting other high-quality coaches. She says Florida-based IMG Academies is the only other program in the U.S. that offers similar services.
“This is a great thing for these kids because it helps them get their education rather than just pushing them through the system,” Ernst says.
Before Ernst came along, the building’s owner thought of turning it into a daycare facility or elderly home.
“What I’m trying to do with this school is bring it back to its history,” Ernst says. She’s tearing down walls, pulling out dropped ceilings to expose the original arches and replacing bricks.
Source: Erika Ernst, Ernst Preparatory School
Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here.
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