Tools Trade Winter 2010
Student Yo-Yo Whiz is a Master of the Art
When Luke Tancredi “throws” a yo-yo, it flies. He starts off with some simple yo-yo staples like Walk the Dog and Rock the Baby. Then he shifts into a jaw-dropping combination of more complicated maneuvers like Skin the A Publication of the Southern Westchester BOCES Center for Career Services Gerbil, Eli Hops and Double or Nothing. The yo-yo whips through the air as Luke works the string and makes the A Message from the Director magic happen.
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Dear Friends:
Winter is a festive but busy time around the SWBOCES Center for Career Services. Students and staff get into the holiday spirit while working hard to prepare for end-of-quarter exams. At the same time, they’re engaged in community outreach programs, and continue to make strides toward personal, educational and career goals. It’s a lot to juggle, but they do it with grace and pride. As director of this campus, it’s particularly gratifying to watch. By now, our students have become more confident in the skills they’ve been developing every day in the classroom. For example, Culinary Arts students are relied on to prepare sumptuous food and desserts for events and meetings held on campus. Ornamental Horticulture students create beautiful decorative items to sell at crafts fairs. Carpentry students build gorgeous blanket chests from scratch just in time for the holidays. It’s amazing what our students can accomplish in such a short time. Our purpose is to prepare students for a future career. We do that not only through handson training, but by bringing in professionals they can learn from. Snapshot overviews of different careers give students food for thought as they consider their options. In this issue, you’ll read about our annual Career Conference Day; a straight-talking EMT who spoke with EMS students about FDNY opportunities; and one of the country’s leading air brush artists who arrived on campus in his mobile classroom (a former NASCAR carrier) with three of his painted show cars to dazzle auto program students. Our students work hard, but they also play hard. Luke Tancredi, an electrical construction student, likes toys—yo-yos, to be exact. Luke has been yo-yoing since he was 12 and competes in local, regional and international yo-yo contests. He’s something else! And our Fashion Design students had a day out in the Big Apple on a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to study clothing design through the ages. Meanwhile, there were food and toy drives, a holiday lunch, a logo design competition… you get the picture.
Luke, a Southern Westchester BOCES electrical construction student at the Career Services Center, is what they call in yo-yo culture a “yo-yoist.” Although he enjoys throwing the yo-yo for its soothing, meditative effect, yo-yoing is much more than a pleasant pastime for Luke, who lives and breathes it, competing locally, regionally and against international yo-yoists from as far away as Japan. Only the Best Will Do He’s even got a couple of YouTube videos of himself doing tricks, one that grabbed the attention last summer of Italian yo-yo maker Best Italian Spinning Tools (BIST). BIST is now Luke’s sponsor, supplying him with high-end specialty yo-yos, teeshirts, caps and hoodies with the BIST logo that he wears in competitions. From his pocket, Luke, a junior at Pleasantville High School, recently pulled a gold metal yo-yo worth $120 (one of several yo-yos he carries around with him). He explained that it’s the heavier metal and high-speed ball bearings better yo-yos are made with that keeps them spinning longer, giving the yo-yoist more string play for performing tricks. The more complicated tricks are nearly impossible to do with dime store variety plastic yo-yos because they snap right back up. Continued on page 2
CONTENTS
We accomplish a lot here and I take pride in our students and staff. I hope you do, too.
Blanket Chests Warm the Holidays . . . . . . . . .2
Sincerely,
Fashion in the City with SJP . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Sky's the Limit for Career Seekers . . . . . . . . . .4 Saving Lives with the FDNY . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Linda Maria Suarez
Air Brush Star Visits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Director, Southern Westchester BOCES Center for Career Services
Campus Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7-8 1
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Blanket Chests Warm Up the Season for Moms, Girlfriends There were bound to be a lot of happy moms and girlfriends this holiday season as they unwrapped the pine blanket chests that were lovingly sawed, sanded, stained and built by carpentry students at Southern Westchester BOCES’ Center for Career Services. In early December, the students were putting the final touches on their projects as the holidays drew near. Sean Brown prepares to line his blanket chest with cedar.
Sean Brown, a senior at Pleasantville High School, was busy lining his chest—a gift for his mother—with cedar. The chest was already stained and nearly ready to go after just two weeks of work. He pointed out the mortise and tenon joints he had cut to fit the sides of the chest together and remembered how he had measured the wood over and over to be sure his ruler work was accurate before cutting. “You have to be patient and take your time because there’s a lot of detail in this,” he said. His classmate, Pelham Memorial High School senior Leo Oliveira, was still sanding the sides of his chest, which had not yet been fit together. Leo said he prefers to take his time and not rush through projects. His wisdom showed: the wood was as smooth as a baby’s bottom. He was still looking for little imperfections—tiny chips in the wood, gaps and microscopic nail holes. After all,
he was planning to give the chest to his girlfriend for Christmas. More important, teacher Rich DiStefano would be looking for flaws. “Every time you do something,
Luke will battle it out with top yo-yo competition winners from around the world in August 2010 at the World Yo-Yo Contest, held every year in Orlando, Fla. Luke’s parents support his competition goals and take turns accompanying him to the contests. “Yo-yoing keeps me out of trouble and hanging with a good crowd,” he joked.
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Practice Makes Perfect Luke pointed to a rough patch between his middle and index finger where yo-yo strings have left a burn mark after years of practice. He was 12 when he picked up a yo-yo for the first time at summer camp. “I saw a kid throwing down a yo-yo and picked it up from there,” he said.
Yo-yo Legacy While winning at the competitions is important to him, Luke has used his passion for yo-yoing to help other kids. Last summer, while working with autistic children at a Valhalla day camp where he was a counselor, Luke discovered that the youngsters responded well to the tricks he did for them.
Looking to YouTube for inspiration, Luke picked up new tricks and styles from more advanced yo-yoists. And then he practiced—a lot. His own style—fast moves with complex tricks and offstring (where the string is tied to the finger but not to the yo-yo) yo-yo play—is what has earned him top rankings in local and regional competitions.
He made it to the final round for off-string tricks
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well,” he said.
Student Yo-Yo Whiz is a Master...
At his first competition at the Massachusetts State Yo-Yo Contest in 2007, Luke, then an eighth grader, came in third in the junior division after doing a one-minute freestyle performance set to music. In 2008, he placed second in the pro level, doing two minutes worth of off-string tricks in the same competition.
he wants you to do it better and better so you don’t make the same mistakes again,” Leo said,
SWBOCES student Luke Tancredi “throws” the yo-yo.
in the 2009 International Yo-Yo Open, held in August at South Street Seaport in New York City. The competition showcases the skills of the world’s best yo-yo players. Luke ranked 16 out of 50 competitors. “I’ve been placing pretty 2
That positive experience has encouraged him to continue working with children and teaching them how to yo-yo. In the United States, yo-yoing is big, with kids as young as 5 competing in beginner levels, he said. “I think I’ll be doing this for a long time.” Catch Luke in action in a duel against a fellow yo-yoist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =ExlCDi2AWwA
A Publication of the Southern Westchester Blanket Chests Warm Up the Season... Continued from page 2
switching the sander back on. The blanket chest is just one of many projects Mr. DiStefano assigns, each one teaching students a new skill as the projects grow more complex. By the end of the first half of the school year, the students have built a saw horse, foot stool, TV stand, bedside table and medicine cabinet. They also learn how to frame a house, first by drawing a one-inch scale model on paper and then building an actual frame outside on the campus grounds.
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“I like carpentry,” she said. “I took a class like this in eighth grade and I enjoyed it a lot.” That’s the same sentiment expressed by all of the other students in the class. “I can’t sit in a classroom. I like the hands-on feel of this,” said Sean,
To build the projects, the students must learn how to use carpentry machinery, including a jointer, which planes wood; a dado blade, which creates rabbit and dado joints; a vertical band saw; and a router table, where the mortise and tenon joints are cut. Nely Velasquez, a junior at Mamaroneck High School, was working on a special Christmas gift for her three-year-old sister Iris—a desk and chair set for her dolls. Nely is the only girl in carpentry this year and found her way to the class after trying culinary arts and electrical construction for two days at the beginning of the school year.
Although he plans to become a fireman, Ardsley High School senior Ray Scaperrotta “just likes building stuff.” Ray has an after-school seasonal job with a construction company, doing landscaping in the spring and summer and snow plowing in winter. “I like being outdoors and working with my hands. I’ve been this way since I was little.” Ditto for Leo, whose father is a contractor and taught him how to do framing. Leo, however, plans to combine his love of carpentry and his exposure to real estate sales (his mother is a real estate agent) to become an architect and build and sell houses. In the meantime, there were blanket chests to finish.
Leo Oliveira sanded the sides of his chest to a fine finish.
Fashion in the City with SJP
rately represented period styles. They practiced their drawing skills by copying some of the garments they found, as if they were designing a costume for a film or theatrical production. Then they used their costume as inspiration for another drawing of a couture garment that could come down the runway today.
If you want to learn about fashion, you might as well hear about it from an icon. And who better to fit that role than Sarah Jessica Parker, who played writer and fashionista Carrie Bradshaw in “Sex in the City?” While Ms. Parker wasn’t on hand to personally escort SWBOCES fashion design students on a recent tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she was able to speak to them through headsets in her pre-recorded commentary on “Costume: The Art of Dress,” in which she discussed the clothing the students had come to see in the Met’s paintings, and explained fashion in the context of the times. The students had prepared for the field trip by researching a time period of their choosing and finding garments in books and on the Internet that accu-
who has applied to and been accepted at three SUNY trade schools—Delhi, Alfred and Morrisville. He’ll continue his carpentry studies at whichever school he ultimately chooses.
“We have seen twentieth-century styles reappear so many times, so now in the twenty-first century, many designers are taking inspiration from the long-ago past,” said Fashion Design teacher Carmen Galiano.
Fashion Design students take a break at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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For A take-off on Egyptian fashion example, by Alexander Hamilton High in recent senior Tanisha Bandoo. years, the high empire waistline in women’s dresses (an homage to ancient Greek and Roman styles) was in vogue. The fall and winter 2009 fashion season has seen an abundance of ruffled necklines on women’s blouses and sweaters, all “very eighteenth-century Rococo,” she said.
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Sky’s the Limit for Young Career Seekers Doctor, lawyer, journalist, performer? For high school students beginning to entertain career choices, the world is their proverbial oyster. In November, 1,800 sophomores from 20 area high schools learned about an array of options from professionals working in nearly 40 fields at the annual Career Conference held at the Southern Westchester BOCES Center for Career Services.
In the Foot Lights Performer James Gedge had his audience in stitches with his opening joke. As a young performer, Mr. Gedge quipped, “I was so bright, my father called me son.” A multi-instrumentalist, singer and dancer, Mr. Gedge said he was “always pushed into the arts. The arts are a wonderful pressure valve.”
The students got to spend an hour with professionals in two different fields and ask questions about educational preparation, salary expectations, growth opportunities and, most important, the day-to-day reality of their chosen vocation.
Performer James Gedge called the arts “a wonderful pressure valve.”
“It’s important for students to know what a job is really like, not just the glitz of it,” said event coordinator Colleen Murray, supervisor, Introduction to Career Trades.
businesses that have in-house legal staff. Holders of law degrees can also teach, consult, or use their legal knowledge in jobs as journalists.
Sessions on traditional careers such as medicine, law, and veterinary medicine were the most heavily attended, followed closely by sports, the performing arts, engineering, fashion design and automotive. “The day was wonderful. The speakers were happy and the students were very attentive,” Ms. Murray said. Legal Eagles It was a full house at the session on legal careers, hosted by Westchester County Judges Anthony Scarpino Jr. and Michael Formoso, and private practice attorney Adrian Hunt. The message of the day was that a law degree (if you can get past the expense and time commitment needed to earn one) is a passport to nearly any career field, with the exception of medicine. Top employers of attorneys include the FBI and the government, universities, hospitals and other
The legal field offers many options, Judge Anthony Scarpino Jr. told students.
The books explore the darker side of Mr. Wood’s life, with “Confessions” delving into his tormented childhood and ultimate triumph in the ring. “A Clenched Fist” tells the story of his return to boxing as he coaches two troubled teens who dream of becoming Golden Gloves champions.
For those not interested in being an attorney but who still want to work in the legal field, there is court reporting, which can have you working inside a courtroom after completing a two-year court reporting program. Court reporters accurately record spoken courtroom testimony using a stenotype machine, which types sound combinations and phrases (rather than single words) to quickly reproduce verbal speech. Highly competent and experienced court reporters can earn well into the six figures. “It’s a very flexible field,” Judge Scarpino said. The Writing Life Journalist Debra Keiser and author Peter Wood teamed up to share their experiences as writers. As a curious child, Ms. Keiser said she used to ask a lot of questions. “Are you writing a book?” people would joke with her. As it turned out, novel writing was not her calling, but journalism was. “For me, the opportunity to tell other people’s stories has always been more attractive than telling my own,” Ms. Keiser said. “The creative process never was based on catharsis or angst, but rather the excitement I felt in meeting new people, finding their story and telling it in a way that respected them.” Mr. Wood’s difficult childhood and career as a professional boxer were the impetus for two autobiographical works: “Confessions of a Fighter: Battling Through the Golden Gloves” and “A Clenched Fist: The Making of a Golden Gloves Champion.” 4
He studied voice and medicine at Lawrence University and went on to perform in numerous stage productions. Now 53, Mr. Gedge said he doesn’t dance professionally anymore, but reads constantly and has a great love of learning, something performers need to do to stay creative. Sports, Electronics and More Students interested in sports careers had a chance to listen to teacher Katelyn Adams, who freelances as a women’s college basketball referee. And in a session on careers in electronics, associate professor Elizabeth Branca from Westchester Community College told students that to get to the top in the field, they need a master’s degree. “You need to constantly learn something new. The world is changing much faster than we’re used to.” Nearly 90 adults spoke to students in these and other fields, including business, radio and TV, construction, dentistry, environmental science, education, engineering, financial services, food services, graphic arts, health, horticulture, language, life and physical science, marketing and sales, military, multimedia, nursing, office and computers, personal services, protective services, social services, social science, therapy and rehabilitation, transportation and veterinary medicine.
The opportunity to tell other people’s stories attracted speaker Debra Keiser to journalism.
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Trying it on for Size
FDNY Careers: Saving Lives for a Living
Three students experienced an emergency situation in a role play scenario, with Angie Kolotouros, a New Rochelle High School junior, dressed in urban search and rescue gear (it looks and protects the body much like the suit firefighters wear), gas mask, and helmet that can withstand hundreds of pounds of pressure per square inch. Mr. Mahon also showed the students his mobile “ambulance in a bag” in which he carries the basic equipment needed to treat injuries anywhere.
In November, Brandon Mahon, an emergency medical technician with the New York City Fire Department, gave students a realistic glimpse into the daily lives of firefighters, paramedics and EMTs—from entry exams, salaries and fringe benefits, to some of the grim experiences he’s had out in the field. The students are enrolled in the Southern Westchester BOCES Emergency Medical Services program.
New Rochelle Senior Chantia Wallace played the part of a car crash victim. With the help of Omar Oviedo, a senior at Woodlands Senior High School, and Mr. Mahon, Angie fit Chantia with a cervical collar
Mr. Mahon, who also is a certified diversity counselor and the diversity coordinator and EMS recruiter for the FDNY, spoke first about firefighters, a job that comes with a 100 percent risk of injury, but that offers a starting salary of just $37,856. When students grumbled about the low salary, Mr. Mahon asked them how much money they’re currently earning. Chuckling, the students replied,“nothing,” to which Mr. Mahon countered that they’d be going from earning nothing to nearly $38,000 a year, plus overtime. Even better, he added, is that firefighters can opt to work two 24-hour shifts “and that’s your work week. You can work 10 days a month if you want to.” Tough Profession, Great Perks Some of the other attractive perks of the profession: it pays up to $73,546 per year after just five years of service; those who make it to the top (lieutenants, captains and chiefs) earn from EMT Brandon Mahon $125,615 to $161,185 per year, plus overtime from the FDNY straps student Angie pay; lifelong medical coverage is given to Kolotouros into firefighters and their families; there are growth urban search and opportunities, flexible work schedules, holiday rescue gear. pay, up to four weeks’ paid vacation per year and a generous pension after 20 years of service. Most firefighters are eligible to retire in their 40s, rather than the standard age 65, giving ex-firefighters still in the prime of life ample time to teach and mentor new recruits, start a new career or pursue personal goals.
and performed a “rapid takedown,” strapping Chantia onto a hard backboard that protects the spine. “This is the best tool you have for maintaining inline immobilization,” and keeping a victim from becoming a quadriplegic, Mr. Mahon said. Training Different for EMTs, Paramedics There is a difference between EMTs and paramedics: EMTs are trained to provide basic life support services in a pre-hospital setting, ranging from CPR to spinal immobilization. Paramedics can provide advanced life support services to patients during medical emergencies. The advanced training enables them to perform some invasive procedures and dispense medications under the supervision of a physician.
Fighting fires, which Mr. Mahon was required to do while in the Navy, was not for him, he said. He chose to be an EMT because “blood and guts I can take all day. I never want to fight another fire.”
Salaries for EMTs range from a starting base of $31,931 to $45,834 after five years, while paramedics earn $43,690 to start up to $59,079 after five years. Other benefits for both jobs include overtime pay, shift differential, meal money, and health and dental benefits. Three weeks of vacation are given to start, with an increase to five weeks after eight years. Pension and a 401k plan, promotional opportunities and flexible work weeks are among the other top benefits offered.
Every Day is Different “We can go days when nothing happens and then it’s back-to-back emergencies,” including critical cases involving abused children, which are especially tough, he said. Because of the depressing traumatic scenarios EMS workers face, they are urged to attend Critical Incidents Stress Debriefings through the FDNY, and work with counselors rather than turn to drugs and alcohol to numb their emotional pain. “One thing you can’t do on this job is smoke or take drugs or drink,” Mr. Mahon warned, because firefighters and EMS workers are subject to random drug testing at any time.
For more information or to file for an entry exam, contact: Brandon Mahon, EMS Recruiter 718-999-1483 or 718-909-8298 (cell) E-mail: mahonb@fdny.nyc.gov Visit: www.nyc.gov/fdny 5
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Act II: Air Brush Star Shows His Stuff If air brush artists are anything like rock stars, then Tom Banks was the opening act for Richard Markham.
Mr. Markham is also an air brush artist to the stars of sorts, having painted a 1932 Ford Deuce owned by actors and bodybuilders Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno, Michael Katz and Franco Columbo as a tribute to their documentary film “Pumping Iron.” Both “Devil’s Ride” and the “Pumping Iron” car are worth more than $200,000 each.
Mr. Banks, a professional air brush artist and Mr. Markham’s former student, visited the Southern Westchester BOCES Career Services campus in September to demonstrate air brushing techniques for students enrolled in auto courses and to promote the automotive training programs at Ohio Technical College, which he represents. He likened air brush artists to rock stars because their talent can get them known. Mr. Markham is one of those artists whose talent, passion and flair for marketing have put his name on the charts as an air brush guru and teacher 21 years after abandoning his job as a gas station attendant and rock band guitarist to take up air brush painting. Students had a chance meet Mr. Markham and get a close look at three of the tricked out cars he had brought along with him on a tour he was making in December to promote Ohio Tech’s programs at BOCES in New York and other vocational high schools across the country. He was traveling along with his driver and Ohio Tech admissions representative Mike Law in an 80-foot former NASCAR carrier he purchased and refitted as a mobile classroom. Starting in March, students at the schools he visits will be able to take a six-hour air brush course in the
The "Pumping Iron" tribute car.
drive,” Mr. Markham jokingly replied. The customer loved that idea and Mr. Markham wound up painting both car doors with a graphic of the Devil (in flames, of course), behind the wheel.
Air brush artist Richard Markham poses with the “Ice Car.”
But Mr. Markham’s treasure is the “Ice Car,” a simple Toyota Celica he painted in stages six years ago at auto shows to promote his work. Painted in white and blue and with an all- white interior, the car clearly resembles ice. It’s tricked out with video screens
carrier with the master himself for $100. Allowing the students to sample air brushing at a low cost before spending thousands on a course at Ohio Tech or elsewhere will help them decide if air brushing is for them, Mr. Markham explained. The students were intrigued by the carrier, which has enough room to hold the three cars and more, and a separate compartment for sleeping and eating while on the road. But the piece de resistance was Mr. Markham’s custom-painted hotrods, all aptly named. “Devil’s Ride,” which he painted for someone he met while at a car show in Boston, is a 1934 Ford Hemi 1000 with a story. The customer asked Mr. Markham how he would paint the car if it were his. “It looks like a car the Devil would 6
“Devil’s Ride”
and an attention-getting stereo. While not practical enough to drive to the grocery story or Home Depot, most of the students said they wouldn’t mind going for a spin in it, if only for the thrill. Casting an eye over the “Ice Car,” student Dario Segarra, a junior at Sleepy Hollow High, said “everything about it is great.” A natural marketer who relishes talking about his business dreams, Mr. Markham isn’t content to just paint cars. He strives to always do something bigger and better. If things go according to plan, his next project will be to air brush a helicopter he’ll be able to fly himself. “If my wife lets me,” he said with a grin.
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Campus Notes Students Collect 800 Pounds of Food for the Community
mini decorated Christmas trees, fresh decorated wreathes, and wreathes meticulously crafted from pine cones and adorned with ribbons and Christmas balls. Table centerpieces, door hangers and other household holiday items also were for sale.
Students at the SouthSix crafts fairs are held each year at the campus for ern Westchester Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukah, BOCES Center for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and spring graduations. Career Services collected more than The fairs give students hands-on experience in the trade 800 pounds of and raise enough money to cover the materials used, canned and nonwith some left over to allow each student to make a perishable food items project to bring home. “All of the money is put right to donate to the Students load boxes of food to take to two local shelters. back into the program,” said teacher Cory Magarelli. community in a food Staff Brighten the Holidays for Students’ Children drive contest that ran on campus the week of Dec. 7. Staff members at the SWBOCES Center for Career Services are dediThe campus recently became a new Chapter member of the National cated to helping their students reach their potential, but they’re equally Technical Honor Society, and teamed up with the SkillsUSA program to committed when it comes to the children of their students. For the sixth host the food drive, which was coordinated by the Westchester Coalition year in a row, the staff donated new clothing and toys to help make the for the Hungry and Homeless, Inc. Through the WCHH, the SWBOCES Center for Career Services was paired with two shelters in Valhalla --- the holidays more cheerful for the little ones of CCS students. This year, the project helped all of the six children whose parents attend classes at the Valhalla Residence and the Grasslands Homeless Shelter. Center. “Giving them nice warm clothing plus toys is a good thing to Because the food drive doubled as a school contest, the class that do,” said Colleen Murray, supervisor, Introduction to Career Trades. Ms. brought in the most non-perishable food and personal care items was Murray has managed the campus’ Toys for Tots program for 19 years. rewarded with a celebratory party. The party for the winning morning class was sponsored by the Virginia Road Dunkin’ Donuts, while Esposito’s Pizzeria in downtown Valhalla sponsored the party for the winning afternoon class. Creative Talents on Display at Holiday Crafts Fair SWBOCES Ornamental Horticulture students had a golden opportunity to showcase their creative talents with the stunning ornaments they created for the annual holiday crafts fair held on Dec.11.
Commercial Art students Alaysia Mickens and Gustavo Ribeiro present logo designs to their client.
Commercial Art Project Scores Success SWBOCES Commercial Art students got a taste of the business world recently when they were commissioned to develop a new set of brochure icons and a logo for the SWBOCES Center for Professional Development. After several meetings and a final client presentation of six different icons and logo options, a decision was reached. The icons were printed on the brochures and the selected logo will be the Center’s new emblem. “The client presentation and the project were a great success,” said teacher Damian Powers.
Students from the morning and afternoon classes worked on a wide range of cheerful projects, including
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Campus Notes SWBOCES Center for Career Services 65 Grasslands Road Valhalla, NY 10595 914-761-3400
BOCES Staff Contribute to Cookbook Talented cooks among the staff at the SWBOCES Center for Career Services contributed more than 100 recipes to a collaborative cookbook to sell as a fundraiser through the campus’s National Technical Honor Society. The cookbooks will sell for $10 each.
Linda Maria Suarez, Director Dr. Clement Ceccarelli, Supervisor, Advanced Career and Technical Education Dr. Colleen Murray, Supervisor, Introduction to Career Trades Eileen Bloom, Supervisor, Alternative Education Suzanne Davis, Newsletter Editor Southern Westchester BOCES 17 Berkley Drive Rye Brook, NY 10573 914-937-3820 www.swboces.org Board of Education President, Georgia Riedel Vice President, Joseph Wooley John DeSantis Nancy Fisher Richard Glickstein Beverly A. Levin James Miller Robert Monson, Ph.D., District Superintendent Sandra A. Simpson, Deputy District Superintendent Assistant Superintendents Raymond Healey, Ph.D., Special Education Nancy A. Jorgensen, Ed.D., Human Resources Stephen J. Tibbetts, Business and Administrative Services The Southern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services, its officers and employees, shall not discriminate against any student, employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, national origin, creed, religion, marital status, gender, age, handicapping condition or sexual orientation. This policy of nondiscrimination includes access by students to educational programs, counseling services for students, course offerings and student activities, recruitment, appointment and promotion of employees, and employment pay and benefits, and it is required by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended and then promulgated thereunder, not to discriminate in such a manner. SWBOCES IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
Career Services Hosts VESID Presentation The Introduction to Career Trades program hosted a presentation by Vocational and Education Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID) at the SWBOCES Center for Career Services. VESID, part of the New York State Education Department, helps provide funding to support the transitional needs of special education students after they graduate from high school. Emergency Services Students Earn Certifications In the SWBOCES Emergency and Protective Services program, 20 students were certified by the National Safety Council in standard first aid, CPR and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) training. Six students were certified in Basic Life Support for the Healthcare Provider, which is a CPR and AED course with more advanced protocols designed for healthcare professionals. Fourteen students took the Office of Homeland Security’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Awareness course and their exams have been submitted for certification. Pilot Year Successful for Advanced College Experience Program College-bound seniors at the Center for Career Services are able to take advantage of the Advanced College Experience (ACE) program offered through an agreement with Westchester Community College. Students can enroll in Composition and Literature I, a rigorous course designed to help them prepare for a college schedule and workload. Students balance longand short-term assignments, must keep up with daily reading and writing assignments, and are expected to complete assignments by deadline. Students pay one-third the college tuition to WCC for the three-credit course and receive a WCC/SUNY transcript, which is accepted at most colleges. Additional ACE courses will be offered in the future. Wood-Tobe Coburn Visits Career Services Campus A representative from The Wood-Tobe Coburn School in Manhattan visited the Career Services campus to talk with students about the school’s associate degree programs in fashion design and fashion merchandising and to conduct an interactive interview workshop. The representative discussed the importance of appearance, body language, communication skills, and a well-written resume so that candidates appear professional and make a good first impression.
Title IX Coordinator Michael Gargiulo, Director of Human Resources Section 504 Coordinator Thomas DiBuono, Director of Facilities and Operations
Check Us Out on the Web! http://www.swboces.org/services.cfm
“The Mission of Southern Westchester BOCES is to collaborate with school districts and communities to meet their educational challenges by providing regional leadership and cost-effective, high-quality services.”
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