High school juniors at Capital Region BOCES have their futures etched in steel – literally.
The students in the Automotive Collision Technology program were combining on Feb. 24 a lesson in science with a useful skill in preparation for their professional future.
Integrated science teacher Brian Conway led the students in a lab that used polymers and acid to etch designs into steel plates.
Conway said the lab helps students understand the impact of various materials on metals.
Students said they enjoyed the lab.
“I love everything about this program,” said Yazen Algahim, who attends the program from Watervliet.
Classmate Serina Sylvester was equally effusive with praise.
“I enjoy learning skills that will help me in my future,” she said.
Both students aspire to careers in the auto body industry with dreams of owning their own shops.
Sylvester and Algahim are among 33 students enrolled in the program this year. During two years of study, students learn everything from how to repair, restore and customize cars and trucks to how to mix specific colors and paint vehicles, detail vehicles and calculate finishing costs.
Science, Math and English are integrated into the Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical School curriculum with students, depending on their program, learning one or two of those subjects as part of their career and technical education. The idea behind the integration is to allow students to earn those required subject credits for graduation while giving them a “real world” understanding of how math, science or English applies to career choices.