Kachelah Flournory is a junior at Cicero-North Syracuse High School in the North Syracuse Central School District. She has been playing softball for eight years and will be trying out for her school’s varsity girls’ softball team this year. Kachelah has learned a lot about her sport over the eight years she’s been playing…and through it, she has also learned about the career that she wants to pursue – physical therapy.
Thanks to the Onondaga-Cortland-Madison (OCM) BOCES and one of two new programs they are offering this year, Kachelah is able to get a head start on the training she needs for the career she wants. She is one of a handful of students enrolled in OCM BOCES new Physical Therapy program embedded in the Strength in Motion training facility in East Syracuse, NY. OCM BOCES also began a second embedded program this year – an Automotive Technology program at Drivers Village in Cicero, NY.
This is the first time ever that OCM BOCES has housed any of its Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs right at a business. Robert Leslie, who is the OCM BOCES Director of Career and Technical Education, is excited about the new offerings and the unique learning opportunities it is now providing to students. “BOCES has been working with local employers for many years and because of the strong relationships we’ve established, our students have been able to do internships and job shadows with them. But this is the first time ever that our students are actually going to class right at the worksite where they are completely immersed in every aspect of the career.”
The OCM BOCES PT course will give students the knowledge and technical skills needed for an entry-level position in the physical therapy field, and it will also offer a path to entering higher education in a PT or physical therapy assistant college program. Through an agreement with Onondaga Community College, students in the class will actually earn 13 college credits; six in English, three in psychology and four in anatomy and physiology.
Carol Gaspo, an adjunct reading professor with Onondaga Community College (OCC,) is teaching the OCM BOCES PT students as part of their high school curriculum. Carol is teaching the students more than just reading, she is teaching them to be prepared for college. Carol says that she would like to see the course material she teaches become a part of every high school curriculum. She said, “These students are learning organization, independence, critical thinking, note-taking and other skills that are critical to their success in college. The fact that they are coming out of high school with these skills puts them steps ahead of other students applying for the same spot in a college program.”
As BOCES began developing the PT program, it worked with Onondaga Community College (OCC) to align its new curriculum with the institution’s Physical Therapy Assistant program. Shannon Patrie, OCC’s Associate Vice President of Enrollment Development, notes that their PTA program is highly competitive. Nearly 300 students applied to the school’s PTA program in 2013 and only 46 of those applicants were offered spots in the program.
Because OCM BOCES PT students will already have earned college credits through the high school program, Patrie says they will have an advantage over other applicants. “When we look at applications and see that these students have basically already completed their first semester, that definitely gives them an edge.”
As for employers looking to hire new personnel with high-level skills and training on the latest equipment available, students from the OCM BOCES embedded programs also have an edge. Although students learn their coursework in a classroom setting right at the Strength in Motion or Drivers Village facilities, they also have the ability to utilize the company’s equipment and learn proper usage.
Erick Dodge is the OCM BOCES Automotive Technology program instructor at Drivers Village. He has been teaching auto technology at OCM BOCES for 13 years. Until this past September, Erick taught his students in a small classroom and garage at the OCM BOCES Henry Campus in Syracuse.
Erick is glad to be a part of the new BOCES program for a number of reasons but he says that he sees one of the biggest advantages of the new setup as having the students be a part of a real work setting. He said, “Some of the challenges that we’ve faced in the past have included being able to stay current with technology and having enough vehicles and equipment for 20 students to work on at the same time. With the program being here [at Drivers Village,] I believe that I can offer students more of a real world learning environment and they have real potential to land a job.”
The students enrolled in new embedded CTE programs will spend a large portion of their 2013-14 school year in very different settings than their peers. Kachelah, who hopes to eventually go to West Virginia State University for their PT program, talks about the different learning environment by saying, “At first it was a little weird but then I realized that I was able to learn faster because we have a small class. I know that I’m getting ahead [because of this class] and that it will be easier for me to stay ahead in college.”
OCM BOCES is grateful for its new partnerships with Drivers Village and Strength in Motion, and especially for the opportunities its students have with the programs being housed at the facilities. Robert Leslie talked about the importance of providing students with access to equipment that would not be possible if not for the partnership. “These facilities have top notch, state of the art equipment that BOCES could never supply on its own. If our school had to purchase and maintain these machines, it would be financially impossible to run the programs. But because of our new partnerships, students are learning about the latest equipment available while they are completely immersed in what will be their work environment.”
For more information about the OCM BOCES Physical Therapy or Automotive Technology programs, contact OCM BOCES Counselor, Melissa Muller at 315/431-8407.
Top photo: Kachelah Flournory, an OCM BOCES Physical Therapy Professions program student from the North Syracuse Central School District, instructs her classmate, Fay Coffey from the Baldwinsville Central School District, on how to properly use a piece of equipment.
Pictured: OCM BOCES District Superintendent Jody Manning (right) and Drivers Village Owner Roger Burdick cut a ceremonial ribbon to mark the opening of OCM BOCES new Automotive Technology classroom at Drivers Village. OCM BOCES Automotive Technology students and Drivers Village staff watch and help celebrate the partnership between OCM BOCES and Drivers Village.
Pictured: Students in the new OCM BOCES Automotive Technology program class at Drivers Village stand with their instructor, Erick Dodge, in front of one of the company’s maintenance garage car lifts.
