This partnership expands career & technical education (CTE) choices for high school students in 7 counties.
Central to the mission of all Boards of Cooperative Educational Services, or BOCES, is to cooperatively provide learning opportunities for students that their individual schools may not be able to offer on their own, due to factors such as enrollment, staffing, space, equipment or cost.
It is in this spirit that Questar III BOCES, which serves Rensselaer, Columbia and Greene counties, and Capital Region BOCES, which serves Albany, Schoharie, Schenectady and southern Saratoga counties, are partnering to offer wider career and technical education (CTE) options for all of their students.
Programs of study offered by today’s BOCES give high school students a jump on college and career by enabling them to earn college credits, honors and AP credits, and nationally recognized professional certifications and licenses, while gaining valuable real-world experience and benefiting from the BOCES’ extensive business and education partnerships with employers, colleges and trade organizations.
While the two BOCES have made their New Visions programs available to all of their high school seniors for several years, the new effort expands the number of courses offered jointly to provide students in all seven counties with even wider pathways to college and career readiness.
The courses include:
- Auto Body Collision Repair, a National Automotive Technician Education Foundation/Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (NATEF/ASE)-certified college and career-prep class, at the Capital Region BOCES Career & Technical School in Albany (Colonie) (for 11th and 12th grade students)
- Aviation, a flight-training program located at Columbia-Greene Educational Center/Columbia County Airport for Questar III BOCES students and at Schenectady County Airport for Capital Region BOCES students, (for high school seniors)
- Aviation Maintenance Technology, an aviation mechanics program including some basic flight training, at Questar III Rensselaer Educational Center, Troy (for 11th and 12th grade students)
- Careers in Health Care, a program for high school seniors interested in learning about a variety of high demand health and emergency medical careers before entering college. Students will become certified as American Heart Association BLS/CPR instructors and may earn credit in a related college course.
- Diesel Technician (Medium/Heavy Duty Truck Repair), the only NATEF-certified high school program in the state, at the Capital Region BOCES Career & Technical School in Albany (Colonie) (for 11th and 12th grade students)
- Floral Design, a college and career-prep class, at the Capital Region BOCES Career & Technical School in Albany (Colonie) (for 11th and 12th grade students)
- Global Fashion Studies, a college and career-prep class, at the Capital Region BOCES Career & Technical School in Albany (Colonie) (for 11th and 12th grade students)
- New Visions: Health Careers, an honors-level Capital Region BOCES program located at Ellis Hospital, Schenectady, and St. Peter’s Hospital, Albany (for high school seniors)
- New Visions: Journalism & Media Studies, an honors-level Capital Region BOCES program located at the Times Union, Colonie, (for high school seniors)
- New Visions: Law & Government, an honors-level Capital Region BOCES program located across from the State Capitol, Albany, (for high school seniors)
- New Visions: Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM), an honors-level Questar III program located at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy (for high school seniors)
- New Visions: Scientific Research & World Health, an honors-level Questar III program located at the University at Albany’s East Campus in East Greenbush (for high school seniors)
More information about each course is available at each BOCES’ website via the links above or by visiting www.questar.org/education/career-tech-ed/index.php or www.capitalregionboces.org/CareerTech. Information is also available by contacting the guidance office at Questar III’s Rensselaer Educational Center at 273-2264. Students enroll in the programs through their high school guidance counselor.
This partnership expands the working relationship between Questar III and Capital Region BOCES – one that also includes Tech Valley High School, a regional public high school based on the principles of the New Tech Network.
The two BOCES – which make up the vast majority of the region known as Tech Valley – worked with business leaders and state lawmakers to open the school in 2007. TVHS offers students in their component school districts the opportunity to learn 21st century skills while working with innovators in technology and business.
