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October 19, 2022National Grid presents Capital Region BOCES with a Workforce Development Grant check
Electricity and gas utility company National Grid is helping to energize the future career endeavors of high school students from across the region.
National Grid formally presented Capital Region BOCES on Oct. 14 a $100,000 Workforce Development Grant.
The grant was announced in April and was funding utilized over the summer to directly benefit dozens of Career and Technical Education students from the Capital Region to the Schoharie Valley.
Specifically, the funds were used to:
- purchase four heavy equipment simulators to train heavy equipment students to operate backhoes, bulldozers, graders, excavators and dump trucks; and
- cover the cost for approximately 80 heavy equipment program students to earn a variety of industry-recognized professional certifications.
“National Grid and BOCES have a long-standing relationship as the skills BOCES students learn are the skills we look for in new employees every day,” said National Grid Regional Executive Laurie Poltynski.
Poltynski said the Workforce Development Grant is part of the company’s Project C initiative designed to create a “…more equitable energy future in every community we serve. We are confident this award will support that future by providing crucial skills to the next generation of National Grid employees.”
Poltynski said on Friday “we need students to run the machines to build the infrastructure of the future.”
Career and Technical Education Director Jeff Palmer said the work of business partners like National Grid is crucial to the success of students.
“Through the benevolence of National Grid and our business partners, students from a wide variety of backgrounds are able to launch careers directly out of high school or have an advantage when pursuing higher education,” Palmer said. “Thanks to National Grid, dozens of students will be wired for success in whatever their post-high school plans are.”
Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical Schools provide educational opportunities to approximately 1,300 high school students from 27 school districts across the region. High school students learn in a variety of programs ranging from electrical trades and game design and implementation to culinary arts, automotive trades and more. Additionally, more than 1,000 adults seek training in skills ranging from health care to welding through BOCES Adult Education programing.
