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October 31, 2019P-TECH Sophomore: ‘It’s best that I am here’
A pair of Capital Region Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P – TECH) sophomores said it is the educational offerings that keeps them in the challenging program.
While they are still middle-teenagers, P-TECH sophomores Danyal Akhtar and Tristan Torres have big plans for the future and that is why they are challenging themselves with the course work of the innovative regional high school.
“Attending P-TECH “is what’s best for me to be here. It helps improve my future,” Torres said during a recent interview.
Akhtar concurred.
“I like being here because I get good grades and I want to get to continue to get good grades,” he said.
The duo are among 11 sophomores and 11 more freshmen in the two-year-old P-TECH program’s East Campus located at Watervliet High School. Thirty-nine freshmen and sophomores attend the west campus at the Center for Advanced Technology at Mohonasen.
P-TECH is offered to students throughout the region through a consortium that includes Capital Region BOCES, the Capital Region Chamber, Hudson Valley Community College and SUNY Schenectady County Community College.
The program provides pathways for students to earn free college degrees in Computer Science, Computer Information Systems and Cybersecurity.
Akhtar aspires to attend RPI and become an engineer while Torres plans to get a four-year business degree and either start his own company or work for a large company, though it’s not exactly clear yet to him what he wants to specialize in.
Both praise the P-TECH program for helping them academically.
“I got help with math last year. I feel like the instructors work more closely with the students, you learn better,” Akhtar said.
“My best experience last year was Ms. Foley helping me with the science and pass my science regents. I learn better face to face because I can better understand it.”
The P-TECH curriculum focuses on engaging students in hands-on, project-based learning – such as coding – to be successful in careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and providing students with workplace skills that will ensure success, no matter the career path they are applied to. Through the program, business partners provide students access to cutting-edge technologies and innovations that allow them to see the real-world application of the knowledge they are gaining at P-TECH.
“I just know that going here is going to help me in my future, so it’s what I need to do,” Akhtar said.
