OCM BOCES embeds two CTE programs in local businesses

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.

OCM BOCES Deaf Program lemonade stand in 5th year

This past summer, the OCM BOCES Special Education Summer School Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program celebrated their 5th anniversary of holding a lemonade stand to benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. The project began all those years ago when teacher Lisa Austin, was working with her students about money and the importance of giving back. Lisa thought a lemonade stand would be a great way to teach students about both concepts.

Upon researching the topic, she came across the book Alex and the Amazing Lemonade Stand. The book, about giving back and helping others, tells about Alex Scott, a little girl with cancer who set up a lemonade stand to help doctors find a cure for the disease. Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a national organization, has raised millions of dollars in the fight against childhood cancer...part of that money coming from right here in Central New York!

For the first time, this year’s lemonade stand was turned into more of an event than in the past, expanding to include face painting, bubble activities, games and crafts. Additionally, there was a quiet corner for teachers to utilize and read the story of Alex with their students.

Ms. Austin is especially excited that the students achieved their increased monetary goal, raising $1,000 for the Lemonade Stand Foundation. She said, “This year it was a huge success! We hope to do just as well next summer school!”

Congratulations to Lisa Austin and her students for a job well done! Watch online news coverage of the lemonade stand on WSYR’s Bridge Street program at http://www.9wsyr.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=4177984&navCatId=20640.

For more information on Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, visit their website at https://www.alexslemonade.org/.

Sun shelter at McEvoy Lets ­students experience nature

This past spring in the gardens at the OCM BOCES McEvoy Campus, flowers weren’t the only things starting to grow. A beautiful new sun shelter was taking shape, thanks to the collaborative efforts of OCM BOCES, Racker Centers, two local construction companies and the Tully Rotary Club.

The Children’s Garden at the OCM BOCES McEvoy Campus, now in its 14th growing season, was begun as a group effort by Susan Thomas, Turning Point Day Treatment Program Director, and many students and staff at the OCM BOCES McEvoy Campus. Students were directly involved with garden’s design in order to promote working with nature, health and wellness, acts of generosity and belonging to their school.

Through the years, the need for shade within the garden became evident, as many of McEvoy’s students cannot be in the sun for prolonged periods of time. A collection was started to fund the building of a structure in the garden. After a lot of hard work, the sun shelter was recently erected on a rainy day this past June. In addition to the shade it offers, it is hoped that it will provide a place of reflection and healing for students as they visit the garden.

The vision for the shelter is that it will be therapeutic, fostering healing and promoting learning for students, staff and visitors.

Special thanks are due to Tim Bearup, a local builder and owner of Bearup Construction, Byran Bartholomew, a BOCES construction trades program graduate and local business owner, the Tully Rotary club, and construction trades and Career Explorations students, who all came together to build the shelter.

The OCM BOCES Turning Point Day Treatment Program is a part of Racker Centers Counseling for School Success programs, licensed by the New York State Office of Mental Health. OCM BOCES employs Racker Centers’ mental health professionals to help support their students in the Turning Point Program.

16th Annual Jack Gallaher Memorial Golf Tournament

The 16th Annual Jack Gallaher Memorial Helping Hand Fund Scholarship Golf Tournament to benefit OCM BOCES adult education students, was held on Wednesday, August 21 at the Links at Sunset Ridge in Marcellus.

Jack Gallaher was a Deputy Superintendent at OCM BOCES for nearly 20 years and was a great supporter of adult education and training. Upon Jack’s retirement in 1997, Dr. Daniel Elstein established the Helping Hand Fund was in Jack’s honor. The purpose of the fund is to provide scholarships and other financial assistance to adult education students lacking the means to begin, complete, or continue training so they might be able to enter or reenter the workforce with viable skills. Each year, the fund provides varying amounts of assistance to deserving OCM BOCES students. In 2013, eighteen students were given scholarships from the fund, allowing them to complete programs with OCM BOCES.

For more information, download the brochure. Donations to the fund are graciously accepted.

170 Adult Students graduate from OCM BOCES Syracuse-area training programs

On Tuesday, July 30, 2013, the accomplishments of nearly 200 adult students were celebrated as they completed OCM BOCES training programs.

Students were recognized for completing the following OCM BOCES adult education programs: CAD, Manufacturing Technology (a new program), Central Service Technology, Cosmetology, Office Technology, HVAC-R, Welding, Construction Trades, Pharmacy Technology, Electrical Maintenance Technology, Medical Assisting and Dental Assisting.

For more information about adult education and training programs in the Syracuse area, call 315/453-4455 and in the Cortland-area, call 607/758-5111

Adult Cosmetology students will perform “confidence makeovers” for Huntington Family Center Participants

On Thursday, July 25, 2013 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., students and staff from the OCM BOCES Adult Education Cosmetology program will be giving free makeovers to participants of Huntington Family Center support programs. The event will take place at the OCM BOCES Lee G. Peters Career Training Center (4500 Crown Road) in Liverpool. Recipients of the makeovers are men and women who have struggled with social and economic hardships. It is hoped that the physical transformations will inspire emotional transformations as well, leading to improved outlooks and increased self-esteem.

OCM BOCES is hosting the “confidence makeover” event in collaboration with ProLiteracy’s Literacy for Social Change (LSC) initiative. LSC is a unique program that enables facilitators within community literacy programs to combine literacy and cutting-edge strategies for human development and problem solving. The agency will be on hand at the event to conduct pre-and post- makeover surveys with participants to gauge how the event impacted them.

OCM BOCES Adult Education Cosmetology Program is donating all of the supplies, costs, equipment and times. During the event, OCM BOCES will also hold an open house in order to give makevover participants and the public the opportunity to tour all adult education classes and learn about its many vocational programs.

OCM BOCES Literacy and Adult Education Program Coordinator Mari Ukleya said, “I’m excited that our adult cosmetology students can be a part of this event. Even more though, the students are excited to be using their skills for such a great cause. We’re looking forward to seeing the physical and emotional transformations.”

For more information about adult education opportunities through OCM BOCES, visit their website at www.ocmboces.org and click on the adult programs tab.
Huntington Family Centers provide human services to those who face economic and social adversity. It works with people based on their social backgrounds and works to build pride and a sense of self-esteem in their community.

Regional Summer School program information

OCM BOCES 2013 Regional Summer School programs for 7th - 12th grade students are taking place at Cicero-North Syracuse High School, Cortland High School, Fayetteville-Manlius High School and West Genesee High School.

All information regarding individual programs is available on the OCM BOCES Instructional Support Services website by clicking here.