TVHS senior Rokeya Sultana speaks as sophomore Richard McKoys looks on.
In a move designed to boost the educational opportunities for students across the region, Tech Valley High School® will move to the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) for the start of the 2014-15 school year.
On Wednesday, New York state Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy and Dr. Alain E. Kaloyeros, senior vice president and CEO of CNSE, announced the decision during an event at CNSE.
“I don’t think there is a partnership like this anywhere in the country,” Duffy told a crowd of more than 100 dignitaries. “This partnership will guarantee more investment, more growth and more jobs in the future.”
The move will provide enormous opportunities for the students of Tech Valley High School, as well as the region and will further grow TVHS’ abilities to provide professional development to teachers across the region, state and country.
“CNSE is the center of the Tech Valley Region’s growth and revitalization. It is only fitting that TVHS be at that center. The partnership of Tech Valley High School and CNSE truly creates the pipeline of school to college to career that in most places in this country is still only talked about,” said Capital Region BOCES District Superintendent Dr. Charles Dedrick.
TVHS junior Stephen Lewis examines an object.
The school is operated by Capital Region BOCES and Questar III.
“When we conceived the idea of Tech Valley High School 10 years ago, the dream was to co-locate this 21st century high school with technology businesses and an institution of higher education focused on emerging technologies. The location of Tech Valley High at the College of Nanoscience and Engineering brings that dream to fruition beyond our wildest expectations. It will secure the future of Tech Valley High, providing its students with un-paralleled education and making it a catalyst for school reform throughout the region and state,” said James N. Baldwin, district superintendent of Questar III BOCES.
Questar III District Superintendent James Baldwin at the College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering annoucement
“This game-changing partnership with the world’s leader in nanotechnology education, research, and economic growth brings our decade’s old dream of co-locating to fruition beyond our wildest expectations. This is an exciting and important step forward on a new journey – one that will open new doors for students and schools across our region – and one that will turn Tech Valley High School into something even larger.
Tech Valley High School Principal Dan Liebert said the partnership affirms the school’s role in education innovation.
“Our students will now be in close proximity to a world-class institution of higher education on the cutting edge of science and technology. This affirms our role as education innovators and cements the role of TVHS in developing innovative science and technology education,” he said.
TVHS will lease for 20 years more than 22,000 square feet of state-of-the-art space at CNSE – larger than its current location at the UAlbany’s East Campus in East Greenbush. At CNSE, TVHS will have modern classrooms and high-tech laboratories to be used by its students and teachers. In addition, TVHS will have access to common space at CNSE, such as technology-equipped auditoriums, to enable opportunities for interactive long-distance learning and collaboration.
TVHS teacher Michelle Sweeny delivers a lesson.
The move is not just an opportunity for the students who attend TVHS, but also those who attend schools around the globe.
“TVHS is a resource to schools across the region, state and globe, providing along with the two BOCES professional development that leads to the Tech Valley High educational process being implemented in classrooms everywhere,” said Liebert.
Dr. Alain E. Kaloyeros, senior vice president and CEO of CNSE, said the partnership between CNSE and TVHS will prepare the next generation of innovators.
“As Governor Andrew Cuomo has championed New York’s rise as a global leader in nanotechnology education, innovation, and economic growth, this partnership between Tech Valley High School and the NanoCollege is both timely and essential in helping to prepare our next generation of innovators,” he said. “We are delighted to work with the pioneering leadership of Tech Valley High School to develop groundbreaking educational and training programs for students, and excited with the synergy that will be realized by locating the visionary Tech Valley High School together with CNSE in a one-of-a-kind hub for nanoscale learning and discovery.”
TVHS students heralded the move.
“At Tech Valley High School, we have been collaborating with our peers and business professionals from the first day of school. Now we get to collaborate with some of the most accomplished scientists in the world,” said sophomore Richard McKoy, from Menands.
TVHS senior Rokeya Sultana, who will graduate before the school moves, said that the change in location will provide future generations of TVHS students with an even greater opportunity to “save the world.”
“My hope is that the future students will be inspired by their experiences here to apply science and technology to solve some of the world’s most difficult problems, such as energy production without pollution, medical devices and technology that cure illnesses, and computer technology that will allow smaller, cheaper, more powerful computing,” said Sultana, who attends TVHS from Hudson.
TVHS sophomore Grace Bombard from Schodack examines a DNA strand in a tube of strawberry juice.
Founded in 2007, Tech Valley High School provides students with the skills necessary to be successful in college and in tomorrow’s workforce, with a strong emphasis on math, science and technology.
Tech Valley High School presently serves 120 students in grades nine through 12 who are drawn from 38 schools across Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Schoharie and southern Saratoga counties.
Its two graduating classes feature a 100 percent on-time graduation rate with 95 percent of students pursuing higher education and 50 percent of the students pursuing STEM-based (science, technology, engineering and math) education and careers.
The school is the result of collaboration with K-12 educators, higher education, business, organized labor, and state and local government. Funding for the school is provided by component school districts, as well as the state and grants provided by private-sector sources.
TVHS students pose at CNSE with Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy, Captial Region BOCES District Superintendent Dr. Charles Dedrick and Questar III District Superintendent Dr. James Baldwin.
A key ingredient of Tech Valley High School’s offerings is serving as an education incubator, providing professional development opportunities for teachers across the globe. This is accomplished by TVHS teachers and trainers provided by Capital Region BOCES and Questar III who conducted professional development classes and workshops attended by teachers and education leaders.
It is the second move for TVHS since its inception. The school was initially located at MapInfo building (now Pitney Bowes) in North Greenbush. TVHS relocated to the UAlbany’s East Campus for the start of the 2009-10 school year. That lease expires at the end of the 2013-14 school year.
Besides Baldwin, Dedrick, Liebert, Sultana and McKoy, several other TVHS representatives were at the announcement at the CNSE campus. They were: TVHS seniors Jesse Fawcett from Green Island, Kevin Bates from Voorheesville and Savanah Beers from Cairo-Durham; freshmen Gary Peck from Cobleskill-Richmondville, Jennifer Mosher of Averill Park and Nafis Rahman of Hudson; sophomores Justin Canaperi of Averill Park, Dan Quinones of Averill Park and Leah Clifford of Ichabod Crane; juniors Isaac Prentice of Scotia-Glenville, Libby Cass of Berlin, and Dan Heck of Cairo-Durham.
Media
- The Saratogian touts move to CNSE
- WGY reports on CNS move
- The Times Union reports on move to CNSE
- The Business Review reports on move to CNSE
- WNYT reports on CNSE announcement
- The Record reports on the move to CNSE
For more information please visit Tech Valley High School’s website at www.techvalleyhigh.org.
