SMETHPORT — Ben Hahn, who achieved a remarkable running career at Smethport Area Junior-Senior High School, returns to his alma mater June 2 to deliver the graduation address.
Blake Johnson, treasurer of the Class of 2017, will introduce Hahn.
Hahn graduated from Smethport in 2007. During his high school career, he lettered four years in track, cross country and wrestling. After setting school records in the 3,200 and mile runs, he advanced to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state track meet, where he won the state championship in the 3,200 run.
Hahn continued his running at the collegiate level at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, and was a two-time National Collegiate Athletic Conference All-American in cross country
He received a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Edinboro, graduating with a 3.40 grade point average.
After moving to the West, Hahn founded and owned the internationally-recognized High Altitude Training Center in Mancos, Colo., which was featured in Runner’s World Magazine. “I wanted to take the concept of high altitude running to other sports,” Hahn said in a telephone interview with The Era.
Hahn taught health and physical education and coached full-time for two years. At the Cortez Middle School in Cortez, Colo., he also was the head coach of track and cross country during the 2014-15 academic year. Then, moving on to Montana, he taught K-10 classes at the Fromberg High School and was head coach of cross country.
Hahn left full-time teaching in 2016. He joined Eco-Built Homes more than a year ago and is now the national distributor and spokesperson for the company, a Billings, Montana-based manufacturer of code-compliant “tiny houses” that have become popular recently, due in part to rising costs of traditional homes. “I spoke about our homes on HGTVs ‘Tiny House Hunters’ in September 2016, and it was rerun earlier this year.. Our company now has distributors in Montana, California and New York.”
Hahn said, “My wife and I and our dog live in a ‘tiny house.’
“These houses examples of simple living,” he said. “They are trendy, very affordable, equipped with all utilities and are movable in cases of an owner’s career change.”
