SUNY Adirondack and Washington Saratoga Warren Hamilton Essex BOCES have teamed up to create a two-year science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) program for the area’s high school students. The program, scheduled to begin next fall, will allow junior and senior high school students to attend the BOCES program at the SUNY Adirondack campus in Queensbury five mornings a week before heading back to their respective high school campuses to finish their high school credits. The STEM program will allow students to receive up to 29 transferrable college credits.
Michael Piccirillo, superintendent of the Saratoga Springs School District, said that the STEM program is very important for students in the Capital Region.
“When you think about all the developments in Tech Valley, we’re kind of in the heart of it here with GlobalFoundries just down the road among all the other developments in the technology field going on in our area,” Piccirillo said. “We want to give our kids an opportunity to have a chance at some of those solid jobs in the technology field that are available right now.”
Brian Durant, vice president for academic and student affairs at SUNY Adirondack, said the curriculum will focus on areas that students can use to get jobs at places like GlobalFoundries when they graduate.
“At this point, a lot of the focus of the curriculum is on electrical technology and manufacturing,” Durant said. “We think that really aligns with a lot of the manufacturing positions that have been in the region for some time, as well as the growth in the Saratoga and Malta area.”
Piccirillo said the new program adds to the efforts the Saratoga Springs School District has already been making in attempting to get more students interested in the STEM fields.
“We offer an honors technology class in eighth grade that is there to help kids hopefully get a head start on a particular pathway,” Piccirillo said. “That’s an excellent opportunity for kids to get prepared for taking more math and science technology courses at the high school level and hopefully finding a niche within a pretty wide open field.”
The school district also offers the nationally renowned Project Lead the Way program, which engages students in activities, projects, and problem-based learning, which provides hands-on classroom experiences. Students create, design, build, collaborate and solve problems while applying what they learn in math and science.
Piccirillo said that though these programs have already been in place, there is still more to be done in educating students and parents on the value of STEM education.
“I think that like every school district in this region, we need to do a better job of educating our kids and their parents about the opportunities in STEM fields,” Piccirillo said. “I think once they know what’s available to them and how they can advance into a particular career path, more and more kids will avail themselves to these opportunities.
“It’s kind of like the best kept secret—there are a lot of jobs available in our region in this field, and yet we continue to steer our kids down a more traditional pathway,” he continued. “It’s understandable to a certain degree, because that’s what people are familiar with, so we’re hoping that programs like this will educate more students and their families to the different opportunities that are out there.”
Durant said that once students graduate from the program and from high school, they could either go straight into the work field or continue on to college with the credits they earn from the program.
“One of the original foundations of the program is to prepare students to be job-ready, so they could seek employment [after graduation] or be able to take the college credits they’ll be earning and seamlessly enroll or transfer into our Electrical Technology program, our Liberal Arts, Math and Science program or another institution they want to transfer to,” Durant explained.
A student and parent information night about the STEM program will be held at the SUNY Adirondack campus March 12 from 7-8 p.m., with representatives from both BOCES and SUNY Adirondack available to provide more information on the program and answer any questions. Hudson Falls, Queensbury and Saratoga Springs high schools have all expressed interest in offering the new program to their students.
To learn more about BOCES, visit www.wswheboces.org. To learn more about SUNY Adirondack, visit www.sunyacc.edu.
