News
March 24, 2021BOCES Partnerships Benefit Not Only Students, But the Region and Beyond
From businesses to social work organizations and institutions of higher learning, students, business owners and residents from across the Capital Region benefit from strong partnerships forged and strengthened by Capital Region BOCES. While the benefits to students have been widely touted – employment in lucrative jobs even before they graduate, access to the latest industry technology, etc. – those benefits are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
In the past 12 months, these partnerships helped BOCES battle education and nutrition issues related to the COVID-19-forced closure of schools, helped employers fill jobs that were vacant for periods of time and did battle with the gender and diversity gaps in technology, the skilled trades and elsewhere.
Among the recent BOCES partnership highlights is the launch of the Capital Region STEM Hub – which is a partnership between BOCES, the University at Albany, Center for Economic Growth, Capital Region Chamber, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, National Grid and the Business Council of New York State, among other businesses and organizations. The STEM Hub hosted the first-ever All-Girls Middle School Summer Coding Camp at the Capital South Campus in downtown in the summer of 2019 and conducted a forum that drew more than 100 educators, business leaders and others to Albany in January, 2020 with Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul headlining the event. The STEM Hub partnership is designed to foster technological growth and innovation in the region while bringing more females and minorities into the male-dominated industry.
“I am doing this camp because I knew I would be surrounded by girls with high averages interested in learning about technology. Usually I am surrounded by boys into that stuff,” said one of the attendees of that camp, Zoey Volmer, an Albany City School District student.
Additionally, the partnerships have led to the redistribution of critical supplies to front-line workers during the height of the pandemic in the region. Six area school districts joined BOCES in donating thousands of masks and other much needed emergency supplies to hospitals and first responders on the front line of the COVID19 battle in Albany, Schoharie, Saratoga and Rensselaer counties. And, of course, the partnerships have led to jobs for Career and Technical Education students in businesses that can’t find enough employees.
“I started working at DePaula Auto Group in January of my senior year and I worked there 30- to 40-hours a week,” said Class of 2020 Graduate J.D. Bagley, who went full-time with the auto operation upon graduation. “I love everything I do there. I love that they are will to teach and help you learn and they don’t mind you asking questions,” he added.
BOCES maintains more than 300 business partnerships, adding 30 in just the last year,
“These partnerships are critical because they allow us to stay on top of what is going on in the industries, as well as help us to place students in good jobs and they also allow us to help grow the regional economy and overcome national trends,” said Nancy Liddle, business liaison for Capital Region BOCES.
They are also critical for the employers. “It’s not an exaggeration to say we are in a crisis situation, not just here or in New York, but across the country. I can place an advertisement and not have one single applicant. If it wasn’t for Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical School and Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC), I wouldn’t have any workers,” said Don Abbruzzese, owner of Northeast Heating, Cooling & Refrigeration
