OCM BOCES Students Participate and Place in Regional SkillsUSA Competition

More than 55 students from the OCM BOCES McEvoy Campus in Cortland, NY and the OCM BOCES Henry Campus in Syracuse, NY recently competed in the SkillsUSA (Area II) regional competition at Morrisville State College. A great number of OCM BOCES students placed in the competition, giving OCM BOCES more medals than any other school in attendance!

Photo: Alexa Mentel, an OCM BOCES Pastry Arts senior from the Liverpool Central School District, is pictured in class practicing for the regional SkillsUSA competition. Alexa entered and placed first in the Commercial Baking competition, which challenges contestants to meet production and quality standards expected by the baking industry. Students must scale, mix, prepare and bake three or four products (including breads, rolls, Danish, cookies and pies) and demonstrate cake-decorating skills. They are expected to deliver a quality, salable product while working efficiently and under job-like conditions.

OCM BOCES students who placed at the regional competition are:

• Emily Arthur (1st place Job Demo) – OCM Laboratory Tech senior from Baldwinsville CSD
• Christine Beckhusen (2nd place Commercial Baking) – OCM Pastry Arts senior from North Syracuse CSD
• Paige Bell (1st place Occupational Health & Safety) – OCM Laboratory Tech senior from Baldwinsville CSD
• Maya Bey (1st place Nail Care) – OCM Cosmetology senior from Jamesville-DeWitt CSD
• Sarah Brown (3rd place Related Technical Math) – OCM Laboratory Tech junior from Baldwinsville CSD
• Dylan Cochran (2nd place Food Prep Assistant) – OCM Culinary Arts senior from Homer CSD
• John Flanagan (1st place First Aid/CPR) – OCM Medical Professions senior from North Syracuse CSD
• Jenna Griffo (3rd place Job Interview) – OCM Pastry Arts senior from Baldwinsville CSD
• Kevin Hernandez (1st place Customer Service) – OCM Laboratory Tech senior from Syracuse City SD
• David Hines (2nd place Auto Service Tech) – OCM Auto Tech senior from Cortland Enlarged City SD
• Kaylie LaFlair (2nd place Job Demo Open) – OCM Laboratory Tech/Career Academy senior from North Syracuse CSD
• Alexa Mentel (1st place Commercial Baking) – OCM Pastry Arts senior from Liverpool CSD
• Tyler Shepard (1st place Auto Tech Service) – OCM Automotive Tech senior from Cazenovia CSD
• Leah Simon (3rd place Job Demo) – OCM Pastry Arts/Career Academy senior from Tully CSD
• Noelle Webster (3rd place Customer Service) – OCM Pastry Arts senior from West Genesee CSD

SkillsUSA is a national organization serving high school and college students preparing for careers in technical and service occupations. The organization provides quality educational experiences for students in leadership, teamwork, citizenship and character development. SkillsUSA offers annual regional, state and national competitions through which CTE students vie against each other for the competition’s top honors, scholarships and prizes of tools for their trades.

Following is the complete list of OCM BOCES students that participated in the regional SkillsUSA competition, by home district, and the programs in which the students are enrolled at BOCES:

Baldwinsville Central School District: Emily Arthur (Laboratory Technology senior), Daniel Belair (Computer Technology senior), Paige Bell (Laboratory Technology senior), Sarah Brown (Laboratory Technology junior), Jenna Griffo (Pastry Arts senior), Tyler Myers (Automotive Collision Technology senior)

Cazenovia Central School District: Tyler Shepard (Automotive Technology senior)

Chittenango Central School District: Drew Atkinson (Automotive Technology senior), Kaleen Cole (Cosmetology senior), Duncan Preeman (Computer Technology senior)

Cincinnatus Central School District: Anthony Allen (Culinary Arts senior), Alexia Cavanagh (Health Occupations Technology senior), Kasey Price (Health Occupations Technology senior)

Cortland Enlarged City School District: Julie Dellow (Culinary Arts senior), Bethany Hall (Culinary Arts senior), David Hines (Automotive Technology senior), Megan Howard (Health Occupations Technology senior), Irina Khrushch (Cosmetology senior), Darien Ostrander (Culinary Arts senior)

DeRuyter Central School District: Brad DeGroff (Culinary Arts junior)
East Syracuse Minoa Central School District: Karly Kwasigroch (New Vision Medical Professions senior)

Fabius-Pompey Central School District: Lucas Volo (Welding junior)

Homer Central School District: Chaylyn Cleveland (Culinary Arts senior), Dylan Cochran (Culinary Arts senior), Connor Munn (Computer Technology senior)

Jamesville-DeWitt Central School District: Maya Bey (Cosmetology senior)

Liverpool Central School District: Alexa Mentel (Pastry Arts senior)

Marathon Central School District: Marjorie Torres (Cosmetology senior), Timothy Wilmarth (Automotive Technology junior)

McGraw Central School District: Colby Barnhart (Automotive Collision Technology senior)

North Syracuse Central School District: Christine Beckhusen (Pastry Arts senior), Michelle Cross (New Vision Medical Professions senior), John Flanagan (New Vision Medical Professions senior), Samantha Holzapfel (New Vision Medical Professions senior), Kaylie LaFlair (OCM BOCES Career Academy Laboratory Technology senior), Danaysia Rucker (Cosmetology senior), Joshua Sackett (Computer Technology senior), Koty Schwenn (Automotive Collision Technology senior), Matthew Stone (Computer Technology junior), Jessica Wanke (New Vision Medical Professions senior), Nicolette Wing (Cosmetology senior)

Solvay Union Free School District: William (Buddy) Chasteen (Culinary Arts senior), Karen Harris (Early Childhood Education senior), Cody McCarthy (Automotive Collision Technology), Da’Shawn Procks (Pastry Arts senior)

Syracuse City School District: Kevin Hernandez (Laboratory Technology senior)

Tully Central School District: Kara Catherman (Culinary Arts junior), Samantha Crawford (Culinary Arts senior), Jessica King (Early Childhood Education senior), Leah Simon (OCM BOCES Career Academy Pastry Arts senior), Michael Spain (Automotive Collision Technology senior)

Westhill Central School District: Travis Lomberk (Automotive Technology senior), Aaron Negus (Computer Technology junior)

West Genesee Central School District: Roman Hevko (Culinary Arts senior), Noelle Webster (Pastry Arts senior)

Congratulations to all OCM BOCES students!

The New York State SkillsUSA competition will take place at the Syracuse Fairgrounds on April 25, with OCM BOCES students competing with nearly 2,000 others from across the state. Students and their advisors will join over 1,000 industry and education partners from across the northeast participating as industry advisory members and judges for the skills contests.

For more information about OCM BOCES Career and Technical Education Programs, contact Robert Leslie at 315/431-8407.

OCM BOCES students and Parkrose Estates residents partner for intergenerational art show

On Thursday, February 28, 2013, the collaborative artwork of students from the OCM BOCES REACH program (grades 7 & 8) and senior residents of Parkrose Estates Retirement Community was on display at the senior living facility in Liverpool. The intergenerational art exhibit, “Freedom of the Arts,” was open for two public viewings that day; one from 1:00 to 3:00 PM and one from 5:30 to 7:30 PM.

For two months leading up to the exhibit, the senior living facility and the school had been working together to present a truly intergenerational and unique art exhibit. On multiple occasions, students visited the facility and worked with residents to create shared pieces of art. Those joint creations were displayed at the show, along with a variety of artwork in various other media and photographs of the student/resident teams.

Earlier this year, Carolyn Lincoln, the Director of Fun at Parkrose Estates, sought out Renae Montroy, a School Social Worker at OCM BOCES, about the project. The school and retirement community have successfully worked together in the past and Lincoln thought the art show collaboration would be a good fit between the two. She said, “Spectrum [Retirement Communities, LLC.,] who owns Parkrose, hosted art exhibits at all 25 of their facilities across the United States this February. At Parkrose, we wanted our intergenerational art show to include students from OCM BOCES.”

Montroy was excited about the idea of the students’ collaborating with Parkrose residents. She said, “We’ve done a lot of things with Parkrose in the past where the kids were able to interact with and learn from residents. I think this project has been the best collaboration so far. The students really had a chance to spend time with residents as they created artwork together. Even when some students appeared unsure about participating in the event, they truly enjoyed the time they spent with the residents. As one student talked about his apprehension, he said that he thought it wouldn’t be fun or interesting but in the end he didn’t want to leave. He connected well with the ladies he worked with and he really enjoyed his experience.”

Students in other OCM BOCES programs have also contributed to Parkrose Estates’ Freedom of the Arts show and had their works displayed along with their peers. Many of these students were guided and supported by their OCM BOCES art teachers, Leah LaChausse from the Career Academy in Liverpool and Pamela Macnabb from the STARS Alternative High School in Solvay. Additionally, artwork from residents, family members and also preschool students from the Child Time day care facility in Liverpool was exhibited at the show.

Carolyn Lincoln extended an invitation to the community to attend the special event. She said, “We really wanted the kids to be able to come to the event and to have their families present also so we decided to offer two viewings. We’re very excited about this and can’t wait to see the reactions of everyone involved when they see the awesome work!”

For more information about OCM BOCES alternative education programs, contact Karen Clark, Director of Alternative Education at 315/952-7847 or kclark@ocmboces.org.