Highlights from the HACTC - Mar. 21

A little over a week ago, we sent students to two Vermont based leadership conferences: Future Business Leaders of America Spring Leadership Conference and Health Occupations Students of America Spring Leadership Conference. When students return from these leadership conferences, I always see so much growth. When we send them off early in the morning, they are prepared in their professional outfits (suits and other businesswear for FBLA, HACTC scrubs for HOSA), but they are also nervous. These events have a lot of people at them and in our region kids don't often have an opportunity to talk to lots of new people. Yet, every time students return from these conferences they say things like, "I talked to lots of new people. It wasn't hard once I started." They conquer their nerves, meet new people, learn leadership skills, and come back with even more to contribute to our HACTC community. It's a long day for staff and students, but I'm so thankful that students get this opportunity and take full advantage of it.

Erika Schneider

HACTC Director

April 4 - Third Quarter Ends

April 14-18 - No School, Spring Break

Rotary Students of the Month are nominated for their leadership and putting service above self in their programs. The January winners are:

• Health and Human Sciences, Level I: Sara McKinney, Mascoma Valley Regional High School
• Health Sciences, Level II: Joseph Gallant, Hartford High School
• Building Trades, Level I: Richard Rosenbeck, Hartford High School
• Building Trades, Level II: Cavan Benjamin, Hartford High School

The February winners are:

• Business, Entrepreneurship, and Marketing, Level I: Alyssa Warner, Lebanon High School
• Business, Entrepreneurship, and Marketing, Level II: Anna McSherry, Hartford High School
• Medical Assisting and Phlebotomy, Level I: Olivia Judd, Home School
• Health Sciences, Level II: Monica Jaycox, Hartford High School

For the next few newsletters, we're asking students how their experience here has impacted them, what they've learned, and how it's helping them meet their goals.

Level I:

• "Welding has really been a highlight."
• "This year in Autobody, I learned how to properly engage with a new team setting and enjoy the work I do. And honestly, I've really learned how to weld properly and now I know how to mix properly, and the next thing I really want to learn to do properly is [...] paint different body lines [...] different sizes and shapes, stuff like that. [...] I really want to get into upholstery because [...] I think it's really cool."
• "The ASE certifications will be really helpful."
• "I learned everything. I didn't really know much [...] I just really liked cars."

Level II:

• "I learned a lot more about repairing dents and knowing how to paint a car, how to weld, do all the fabrication, where before only I learned certain things through my grandfather and my uncles, but this kind of changed, so I know what I really want to do when I graduate."
• "I was a lot better at hitting [dents] out of metal stuff after I came to this class last year. Thank you, Mr. Cassidy."

Level I:

• "The tech center has given me good experience I wouldn't be able to just get at my sending school, or I'd have to take college classes by myself to be able to get it, so I think the resources they give is really good and really sets you up good for college or your future just in general."
• "I've learned about accounting, and I've really taken an interest in it. It's definitely made me want to work in banks more when I'm older. That wasn't really the path I wanted to go down before going to Hartford, but now, having experience with a lot of banking stuff [...] and frauds and stuff like that, I think it's kind of cool and I'd like to crack some cases."
• "I'm friends with people here."

Level II:

• "I chose Business because of all the college credits, you have 12 college credits, which from the school I'm going to equates to about $14,000 [...] I figured the business credits would be a great fit for any school [...] and there's some stuff that you really need to know, no matter what you're going to do."
• "It's created a lot more opportunities."
• "Being here has opened me up to a ton of new opportunities because we've gotten certified in Quickbooks [...] Just being in this environment every day kind of sets me up for success, going to college, and then working in the future. I always kind of knew I wanted to do business, but this really confirmed it for me."

Many students from our Business, Entrepreneurship, and Marketing, Cosmetology, Design, Illustration, and Media Arts, Information Technology, and Software Engineering programs attended the FBLA State Leadership Conference at Champlain College last week. Below, our FBLA officers and advisor Stacey Dunham pose with the Outstanding Chapter Award.

Students in Health Sciences, Health and Human Sciences, and Medical Assisting and Phlebotomy visited UVM last week for the HOSA State Leadership Conference. Our big group of attendees and advisors Krystal Brown and Jen Johnson are pictured below.