Orange Bank & Trust Co. and local businesses celebrate CTE outstanding students

GOSHEN — On Tuesday, June 7, the education and business communities came together to celebrate 33 students who excelled in all aspects of their education - theory, practical skills and work-based learning - at the OU BOCES Career and Technical Education Center.
The fourth annual Outstanding Career and Technical Education Students’ Recognition Dinner was held at the Villa Venezia in Goshen, where the students, their families, their CTE instructors, guidance counselors and administrators and home school administrators as well as supporters from the local business community joined them to commend their hard work, dedication, skills and accomplishments.
Among the outstanding students were:
• Alyssa Sieczek is a student at S.S. Seward who attends the Culinary program.
She plans to attend SUNY Adirondack and major in business. She plans to own a business in the hospitality industry.
Alyssa has earned High Honor Roll and Honor Roll at CTE and at S.S. Seward.
She participated in the work-based learning opportunity at Golden Corral Restaurant. She was able to accomplish this while working two jobs.
Alyssa said that the Culinary chefs have taught her to love culinary and excel in the program. She would not change her experience for anything.
• Hunter Brown is a student from Warwick Valley High School.
He is completing his second year of Collision Repair at CTE. During his time at CTE, he received Student of the Month several times.
He enjoys writing estimates and painting vehicles. Hunter and a classmate completed an extensive unibody frame repair on a 2007 Toyota Corolla, which required replacing the entire front of the vehicle.
His goal is to become a history teacher or a police officer, like his father.
He is looking at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania and Castleton University in Vermont as places where he can continue his education.
• Melissa Hebel is a Warwick student in the Pharmacy Technician program.
“As the end of my final school year is approaching,” Melissa said, “it seems to me as if my real life goals/accomplishments are slowly coming into reality. For my future lifetime goals/career, I aspire to become a nurse practitioner. Currently, I am attending the Pharmacy Technician program at CTE to help me accomplish this goal by having additional knowledge of the, vastly popular, top 200 medications and their interactions in the body.
“After this program and taking the ExCPT certification exam,” she added, “I’m hopeful that I will find an occupation somewhere local as a certified pharmacy technician to help me retain this knowledge. After high school, I will be attending SUNY Orange at the Middletown campus for the beginning of my nursing study. I plan to graduate with an associate’s degree as an RN and then I am planning on transferring to another college, such as Ramapo College in New Jersey, to receive my bachelor’s degree. Lastly, I am planning on receiving my master’s degree in nursing and attend courses for advanced nursing in order to become a nurse practitioner. Overall, I’m extremely enthusiastic for my future and I’m truly thankful for this recognition.”
• Javan Pittsenbarger is a Warwick student who attends CTE for Computer Programming.
His immediate plan after graduation is to pursue a couple of paid internships in computer programming.
While at the Career and Technical Education Center, he was Student of the Month several times and earned High Honor Roll every marking period. He is also a member of the National Technical Honor Society. To be a member of the National Technical Honor Society, a student must, among other things, maintain a cumulative average of 95 or better.
Javan participated in weekly work-based learning for Single Malt Creative while at CTE. His work-based learning included using HTML, CSS, and AngularJS for web programming and also included using Ruby atop a Virtual Machine.
“CTE gave me the opportunity of gaining valuable work experience” Javan said, “ and allowed me to have hours and hours of practice to master my craft.”
• Russell Showalter is a Warwick Valley High School student in the Telecommunications and Wireless Specialist 2 program.
While attending CTE, he was Student of the Month and on High Honor Roll. He earned certifications in wireless, copper, fiber optics and telecommunications.
Russell said that his experience at CTE has helped him figure out what he is going to do with the rest of his life. His future plans are to attend Orange County Community College and study electrical engineering.
• Leyda Torres is a Warwick Valley High School senior. She is enrolled in the Allied Health Program, where she has excelled in the lab, clinical and classroom settings.
Leyda’s immediate future plan is to attend the Borough of Manhattan Community College in the fall. Her long-term goal is to become a forensic pathologist.
She has been awarded Student of the Month and has earned Honor Roll and High Honor Roll many times during her two years at CTE. She is also a member of the Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA).
“These two years mean a lot to me,” Leyda said. “I’ve met great people. I’m glad that I attended this program because I got a jump start on my career at a young age.”