Students Praise Capital Region BOCES Schoharie Campus Upgrades

SCHOHARIE – Students returning to the Career and Technical Education Center – Schoharie Campus last week praised the upgrades as helpful in preparing them for post-education careers.

Cosmetology, Building Trades,  Automotive Trades Technology and Culinary Arts and Hospitality Technology program students are benefiting  from new equipment and upgrades to their classrooms. In fact, Cosmetology students received an entirely new laboratory inspired by the customer service area of professional salons.

[The new classroom} is nice. It’s more realistic,” said Anyssa Kenney, a Cosmetology senior from Guilderland.

“It’s very futuristic. It’s more realistic and more like the salons we all go to,” added classmate Rae Anna Ward, from Middleburgh.

Automotive Trades seniors said the addition of modern vehicle lifts heightens the learning they are doing at BOCES. 

“This is pretty nice, it’s like what you see in high-end garages,” said Dalton Swift, an Automotive Trades Technology senior from Middleburgh as he checked out a new automobile lift.

The upgrades are part of a yearlong project that saw the creation of a Welding and Metal Fabrication program on the Schoharie Campus with the new classroom taking the place of the previous Heavy Equipment Operation, Maintenance & Repair program garage. That was made possible by the construction of a new five-bay, 4,500-square-foot building, which was constructed during the 2023-24 school year and will now house the heavy equipment program’s equipment.

Also included in the capital project were safety upgrades through the construction of a new driveway configuration. The driveway now allows drivers to enter the campus at one location and leave at another. That work will ease congestion and increase the safety for those turning onto, and off, state Route 30A, said Career and Technical Education Director Jeff Palmer.

“We are excited to roll out these upgrades and to continue to improve our educational offerings,” Palmer said.

The 2024-25 school year opened Sept. 5 for students on the Schoharie and Albany Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical Education Center campuses. Approximately 1,400 students are enrolled in 28 programs offered on the two campuses, as well as off-campus locations, such as Proctors, St. Peter’s Hospital and Ellis Hospital.