October 2024

Every October, P-TECH OHM recognizes Bullying Prevention Month with the celebration of Unity Day. On October 16, staff and students alike wore orange to demonstrate their commitment to cultivating an educational environment in which every student feels they belong.

As a program, we celebrated throughout the entire week. In addition to wearing orange on Unity Day, students created anonymous compliment cards for other students, completed journal prompts, and created a unity chain for the hallway. Thank you to everyone who participated and helped make our Unity Day celebration a success!

P-TECH PRIDE represents the program's core principles of Partnership, Respect, Innovation, Diversity and Excellence. For one day each month, the program steps away from regularly scheduled classes to provide programming focused on these core principles.

P-TECH OHM recently held our first PRIDE Day of the school year. This PRIDE Day focused on partnership through our work with the Daneli Partners. The Daneli Partners returned to our campus to continue their programming with our sophomores, who were able to move forward with their strength-focused work.

Meanwhile, students in other grades attended workshops focused on professionalism. For example, students attended a seminar on sending professional emails. They learned about the important parts of an email and how to appropriately phrase what they are trying to say. Next, students had the opportunity to read some emails and provide constructive feedback to the authors.

In the afternoon, students broke into their academics to work on their academy logos. Groups within each academy submitted their version of an academy logo. We will post the winning logos outside the academy doors!

On October 18, students in the P-TECH OHM program attended the second annual Women in Manufacturing Summit, joining Proctor High School students at the event. Students learned about career opportunities for women in the manufacturing sector. They also participated in a tour of SUNY Polytechnic Institute's manufacturing facilities, Maker Space, and Project Based Learning Lab. In addition, students traveled to Fort Stanwix this month to learn about its history and participate in some project-based learning.

Staff and students came together to read in a relaxing setting with music and refreshments during a Writer's Café event in Mrs. Giruzzi's English 11 class. ELA students recently wrote Human-Interest Stories, which were inspired by the Positivity Project's character strengths.

In this unit, students worked on brainstorming topics, their interviewing skills and cultivating their writing style. Their writing goal was to describe how their chosen individual embodies the character strengths of the Positivity Project. While a few students chose to share only a snapshot of their papers, most of the students shared their work in its entirety.

Not only did this assignment allow the students to improve their writing skills, but they were also able to spread positive messages to students and staff alike. Students enjoyed the quiet reading time and are looking forward to participating in more of these events later this year.

P-TECH OHM is welcoming three new members to our team this year!

Mrs. Murray teaches United States History, Participation in Government, Economics and College Seminar here at P-TECH OHM. Mrs. Murray has her master's degree in Adolescence Education along with a bachelor's degree in Historical Studies. She has experience in the Sauquoit Valley and Mount Markham school districts as well as some experience in the media industry.

Mrs. Lavallee teaches Design and Drawing for Production (DDP) at P-TECH OHM. She has a master's degree in Information Design and Technology as well as a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Technology. She has experience working at the K-6 level as well as teaching Mandarin at OHM BOCES.

Mrs. Arcuri joins us as a member of both the P-TECH and CTE programs at OHM BOCES. She is a teaching assistant who has worked at St. John's Evangelist Nursery School and St. Mary's Nursery School in Clinton.

A partnership between the Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES, Mohawk Valley Community College, and Mohawk Valley EDGE.

🌐 www.oneida-boces.org/ptech | ☎️ 315.793.8666

🗺️ 4747 Middle Settlement Road, New Hartford, NY 13413

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