On behalf of the Putnam | Northern Westchester BOCES Career and Technical Education (CTE) Center, I am pleased to welcome you to the 2023-2024 school year!

As the new CTE Director, I am excited to work with you and your students to ensure that they have the best possible educational experience. Our CTE Center offers a wide range of programs that prepare students for high-demand careers in a variety of fields, including healthcare, construction, transportation, cosmetology, culinary, and many more.

Choosing the right educational path is an important decision. I am confident that our Career and Technical Education Center can provide students with the skills and knowledge to be successful in their chosen field.

Here are just a few of the things that make our CTE Center unique:

• We offer a variety of programs that are aligned with the needs of the local workforce.
• Our programs are taught by experienced and qualified instructors.
• We provide students with opportunities to gain real-world experience through internships and apprenticeships.
• We have a strong track record of success, with our graduates going on to successful careers in their chosen fields.

I encourage you to learn more about our CTE programs and to visit our campus to see for yourself what we have to offer during our Meet the Teacher night on Thursday, October 26, with two time options: 6 pm or 6:30 pm.

Sincerely,

Stephen Lowery

CTE Director, Putnam|Northern Westchester BOCES

Steve Lowery is not letting the grass grow under his feet. As the new director of the Career and Technical Education Center at PNW BOCES, Lowery is working to build a unified environment among staff and students in the more than 30 programs the center offers.

Lowery knows CTE. As executive principal and principal of the center for 16 years, he has been an integral part of its expansion and has plans for even more growth.

“One of the programs that we are looking to create in the 2024-2025 school year is New Visions Theater Arts,” he said. “We have so many great programs, and we want to create new, meaningful additions where we see the opportunity.”

In fact, most of the cutting-edge programs, which are a hallmark of CTE at PNW BOCES, have been created as a direct response to trends in the job market and district needs.

While launching and preserving stellar programs are at the forefront of Lowery’s work, he believes an important part of that work involves professional learning.

Prioritizing staff and making sure everyone has what they need is essential to Lowery’s philosophy as a leader. “If the staff are working together well and are happy, the students will be getting what they need,” he said.

Lowery, who took over as director In April, visits each one of the programs every Tuesday and Friday. “I want to make sure each teacher feels as valued as every other teacher,” he said. “By visiting all of them, it’s easier for me to be in touch with what they may need or how both they and their students are doing.”

Prior to the end of the last school year, Lowery brought in magician and team-building presenter Ryan Dutcher to perform for staff and provide meaningful interaction between them. “It was great to see everyone having a good time together and people from different programs connecting with each other.”

Another team-building activity included a staff retreat at the FDR home in Hyde Park. “The guest speaker broke us up into groups that don’t normally work together,” Lowery said. “It was perfect because everyone has so many different talents, and we have so many resources within our own campus. It is important for everyone to know people working not only in their own programs, but in all of the programs, so we can help each other.” 

Also new this year—a revamped English as a New Language (ENL) Center, located in the lower level of the main Tech Center building. The new center responds to the needs of districts that have expanded their ENL student registration. “Our programs keep expanding,” Lowery said, “so we have to grow with them.”

Preeti De is a lot of things — administrator, traffic cop, diplomat — but above all, an educator.

De took over the reins of the Career and Technical Education Center as executive principal over the summer, when Steve Lowery was promoted to CTE director.

While she feels that her day to day role hasn’t change much from last year when she started as CTE principal, it’s certainly not the same.

“We have restructured the way the administration works entirely,” De explained.

During the summer break, while students and staff were enjoying their time off, De, Lowery and Career Academy Principal Michael Sowul, met and discussed what their priorities were for this fall.

At the top of the list was keeping the campus safe.

“Safety was our biggest priority. Enrollment and admissions were our second,” De said. “Then discipline and being more consistent with discipline.”

“We revamped the student handbook, especially concerning the code of conduct and safety, ensuring that the students understand what we are trying to do and why we are trying to do it,” she said.

De is not taking any chances with student safety. Every day she is in and out of classrooms, checking on students and teachers. 

She is known to throw on a hard hat, and a safety vest to observe Urban Forestry classes and check out what the Carpentry students are building.

When she’s not in a classroom, De’s outside directing the multitude of buses shepherding students to the Tech Center and keeping tabs on student drivers with parking passes.

“Safety in the classroom, safety in our parking lot, safety in driving, we cannot compromise,” De said. “These students are like my own.”

Move over Chatty Cathy, there’s a new mouthy manikin in town.

New Visions Health students started the school year with a talkative medical manikin they call Patty.

The life-like doll is the geriatric version of the Laerdel “Nursing Anne Simulator” manikin. 

Patty can moan, groan, gag, cough, and even talk, using a touch-screen tablet that allows the instructor to speak for her.

With her gray hair, gnarled fingers and toes, wrinkled skin, and yellowed teeth, Patty is one realistic robot.

“You can auscultate heart sounds and lung sounds,” said teacher Caroline Murphy. “You can palpate pulses throughout the whole body, and you can run clinical scenarios to teach the students what to do in many different situations, from an emergency room, to a nursing home, to a hospital floor.” 

Fifteen students – some wearing stethoscopes – gathered around Patty’s bed and started running a scenario.

She is an 85-year-old woman who was brought in from a nursing home. Patty is disoriented, has ragged breath, and she’s moaning in pain.

The students – including Peter Stoop from Briarcliff High School and Joselynn Reid-Guzman from Peekskill High School – had to figure which steps to take as the pressure mounted with beeping monitors and an uncooperative patient.

“They are learning the correct way to treat patients and how to interact with patients before they even go to a hospital,” Murphy said.

It took some oxygen to finally stabilize Patty, whose first request after the ordeal was to get something to eat. 

“It's an invaluable resource that will serve New Visions Health, our Nursing Assistant class, and many other programs in the health academy,” Murphy said. “It's a wonderful creative outlet for the students to learn.” 

Sports Medicine students are pumped up about their brand-spanking-new 10-piece Precor exercise set in their Tech Center South classroom. Students have their choice of using a chest press, a pull down, or a leg press to get their blood pumping. While the equipment is in the Sports Medicine classroom, students who take Physical Education will also be able to enjoy it.

“The equipment is outstanding. It makes me want to work out, and every rep I do is smooth,” said Angie Moreno Sosa, a Law Enforcement student from Putnam Valley.

Helping the 17-year-old pump iron was Sport Medicine II student Sarah Jones, a Haldane High School senior.

She showed Angie the right way to use the rowing machine and made sure her form was correct, avoiding injury.

“Learning how to work on the equipment and then teach others about it is always encouraging,” Sarah said. “Being able to help people who are new to this makes me realize how much knowledge I’ve gained in this class.”

Sarah wants to be an athletic trainer but is also interested in occupational therapy.

While the new equipment was brought in to teach the 50 Sports Medicine students how to communicate with their patients and come up with individualized exercise plans, students can also use it to get a workout, boosting their energy and moods.

“Instead of just going on my phone during our breaks, which makes me tired, I can exercise,” said Molly Strehle, 17, a Pawling High School senior. “People think they need energy to exercise, but I get energy from exercising. I feel refreshed when I come back.”

All of this is done under the watchful eye of teacher Dr. Will Brightman, and there are rules, of course.

“Our students will be heading into various health professions whereby having an understanding of health promotion and, injury and disease prevention are paramount,” Brightman said. “Having accessibility to fitness equipment in the program where students can collaborate with each other will benefit their future clients and patients.”



Piper Caulfield, a Culinary student at PNW BOCES, was excited that the Culinary Institute of America was coming to do a presentation in her classroom on the BOCES Yorktown campus. But what she didn’t know was that she was about to receive an in-person acceptance to the world-renowned culinary school.

Robert Tremblay, associate director of admissions at CIA, said he was delighted to offer Piper admission to the fall 2024 program. “PNW BOCES is one of our top schools for recruiting students, and Piper was highlighted by our admissions team as an amazing candidate,” Tremblay said.

BOCES Culinary teacher Suzie Low-Pratt said, “It is so exciting for Piper to have this opportunity. We are always thrilled when our students get accepted into the CIA!”

Piper, a senior at Croton-Harmon High School, said she is “surprised, and so excited,” to get her acceptance in person. “I want to study Baking and Pastry Arts as well as business,” she said. “The program at BOCES really helped prepare me and helped me to decide that this is really the career that I want to pursue.”

Above photo: Piper Caulfield, middle, holding bag, with, from left: Robert Tremblay, associate director, CIA; and Maddy Antes and Storm Giles, seasonal demonstrators for CIA.

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Editor: Erika Martinez