Archived news from November 2005

National consultant works with HFM BOCES students

Holly Teneyck, an HFM BOCES  special education student,  uses assistive technology to help her communicate. Thanks to new hardware equipment recently added to her classroom, she will have opportunities to make even more strides.

But there’s always ways to improve on what works, so on Sept. 28, Holly and HFM BOCES speech pathologist Erica Mattice agreed to be part of an interactive workshop with RJ Cooper, a nationally renowned developer and researcher for persons with severe disabilities.

Cooper conducted the workshop at Fulton-Montgomery Community College. As part of the workshop sponsored by The Resource Center for Interdependent Living in cooperation with HFM BOCES and F-MCC, students and families across the region participated in individual learning sessions.

The audience -- comprised of families, special education teachers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech pathologists and many others interested in enhancing student learning through the use of assistive technology -- observed several students utilize assistive technology and the unique software developed by Cooper.

Holly, a student in Lisa Lane’s classroom located in Mayfield Elementary School, and Mattice worked together in front of the crowd of nearly 100 to demonstrate how Holly uses assistive technology to help her communicate. Relying on his background in developmental psychology and electrical engineering, Cooper presented some new techniques and ideas for Holly’s teacher and therapists to consider while working with her.
 

Drop Dead Fred teaches students a thing or two about temperamental horses

Drop Dead Fred didn’t start out as a well-loved horse. His name alone should be a dead give-away that the horse's breeder was less than thrilled with the mare’s offspring.

So Fred was put up for sale, and the irascible horse is proving to be a fine addition to the HFM BOCES Equine Science program at the Career and Technical Center in Johnstown.

Despite Drop Dead Fred’s low-brow pedigree, he now leads a useful life teaching Equine Science students a thing or two about dealing with one tough customer. Instructor Bob Boshart compares Fred to the naughty kid in class who teachers somehow manage to like, even though he drives you crazy.

One of Fred’s two student trainers, Holly Pepper, could not agree more. “He’s your typical two-year-old,” Pepper said. “But we all still love him.”

Talk about sudden transformations, perhaps Drop Dead Fred should be renamed Fortunate Fred. As the poster child for the whole beauty-is-in-the-eyes-of-the-beholder thing, Fred has earned a place in the hearts of HFM BOCES Equine students.

And when you are trying to train students with a wide-range of career interests - from aspiring vets to hopeful horse trainers - it certainly helps to have a horse like Fred in residence. To coin a phrase, “one person’s junk is another’s treasure,” and in this case Fred’s upstart temperament provides the perfect training opportunity for dedicated Equine Science students.

The Equine Science program, like other Career and Technical Center courses, exposes students to real-life training experiences not often available in traditional high schools. At present, there are two sections of the Equine program: one is in the morning for high school juniors, while the afternoon session is for seniors. Students attend their home high school the balance of each day for other academic subjects.

Interested sophomores and juniors should see their school guidance counselor soon to sign up for Equine Science course offerings in the 2006-07 school year.
 

Katrina evacuee finds future at HFM BOCES 

Katrina Tomlinson may have lost her home in Hattiesburg, Miss. when Hurricane Katrina struck in August, but that storm helped the 18-year-old aspiring pastry chef find a new direction at HFM BOCES.

“Katrina is in New York because of Katrina,” the teenaged evacuee laughed just days after enrolling in the Food Services training program at HFM BOCES Career & Technical Center. Katrina’s mother, a Mississippi National Guardsman, was training for deployment to Iraq when Hurricane Katrina thundered into town, and superseded those orders.

“I really wanted to work towards a culinary degree as a pastry chef,” Katrina explained, “but there weren’t any programs like this where I lived – unless you were a high school senior and wanted to go into nursing.”

So Katrina moved north to live with grandparents Gary and Esther Tomlinson in Broadalbin where she will forge ahead with career goals and stock up on winter weather gear. “We already went out and bought Katrina’s winter clothes,” explained her grandfather. “She’s never been through a New York winter, so she’ll get an awakening – I’m sure.”

While Katrina warms up to the idea of a Capital Region winter, she is thrilled to get hands-on experience at the Career and Technical Center’s fully operational kitchen. The Food Services program is successful because students get to cook and bake every day – rather than mainly read about it.

After hearing Katrina's story, the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park offered Katrina a two-day tour of its campus -- and a scholarship to participate in the school's Career Discovery Program next summer.