Capital Region BOCES is celebrating national Career & Technical Education (CTE) Month throughout February with a series of events at its Career and Technical Education Center – Albany and Schoharie campuses.
The events highlight the unique partnership Capital Region BOCES maintains with more than 300 business, education and labor organizations—a partnership that helps students not only achieve their career goals but helps employers address the critical shortage of skilled labor in this region and beyond.
Activities range from presentations by business partners, such as Milton CAT, to a career fair for aspiring cosmetologists to individual career-building lessons taught by labor partners, such as UA Local 7 Plumbers & Steamfitters who will teach plumbing to Building Trades students.
“We have a lot of great things going on, and we are proud to celebrate not only our partners but our scholars and the education-CTE-business partnerships that make CTE a success,” said Career and Technical Education Director Jeff Palmer.
Indeed, enrollment has climbed in recent years and the waiting list for Capital Region BOCES CTE programs exceeded 200 students at the start of the 2024-25 school year.
To address the demand, BOCES will open in September the Career and Technical Education Extension Center at 886 Watervliet-Shaker Road in Albany, next to the Albany CTE Campus and the BOCES administration building. The 46,000 square-foot building will allow for an additional 200-plus students to gain a career and technical education.
New Plumbing Technology and New Visions: Emerging Technology programs will be housed there, and several other programs will be expanded, including the Heavy Equipment Repair and Operation program, which is currently only offered on the Schoharie Campus. Additionally, new Electrical Trades, Building Trades, Cosmetology, Manufacturing and Machining Technology and Digital Media Design program space will be in the facility.
As operator of one of the largest workforce development centers in Upstate New York and partner to more than 300 business, education and labor organizations, Capital Region BOCES takes seriously its role in equipping the next generation of workers with the essential skill sets needed to alleviate the critical shortage of skilled labor in this region and beyond.
Graduates of BOCES programs have gone on to jobs in all facets of the workforce—from nurse practitioners and physicians to machinists, entrepreneurs, diesel technicians, fashion designers, video game designers, electricians, chefs, service managers, dietitians, and many, many more successful careers.
“BOCES connects education with everyday life and gives you the skills you need to succeed,” said Tom Rodick, a Class of 2022 graduate of the Network Technology program who works for BBL Construction Services and is receiving a free college education through his employer.
Class of 2023 graduate Noah Marbley sounded a similar message.
“Going to BOCES really helped me figure out what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go. When I first started at BOCES, I wanted to be a welder, but I wound up in the manufacturing program and I really liked it,” said Marbley, a Manufacturing and Machining Technology program graduate from Schenectady.
Marbley is also attending Hudson Valley Community College for free thanks to his employer and the skills he learned at BOCES.