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Courtney Stops By To Support Summer Interns’ Energy Audit |
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Hampton - U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, stopped by EASTCONN’s main offices at 376 Hartford Turnpike on Thursday to observe four Summer Youth Employment Program interns and six Eastern Connecticut State University students as they conducted an energy audit of the entire facility.
The four high-school-age Summer Youth Employment Program students from Windham are participating in paid summer internships at ECSU’s Institute for Sustainable Energy. Joining them at Hampton were the ECSU college students, who are also enrolled in ECSU’s Institute for Sustainable Energy.
EASTCONN partnered with the federally funded Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board’s (EWIB) Summer Youth Program and ECSU to provide the energy internships to the Windham students.
Congressman Courtney wanted to attend the energy audit to support students and observe them on-the-job in one of the region’s many Summer Youth Employment Program internships. Courtney is an avid supporter of the Summer Youth Employment Program, which this summer offered numerous types of internships to about 590 youth across Courtney’s congressional district.
“This Summer Youth Program is very important to me,” said Courtney, as he walked down a hallway while students checked lighting, air-conditioning, windows and other energy-related building features.
“To have a program like this that not only provides students with a summer paycheck, but that also facilitates their education and provides them with career opportunities, well, that’s just the perfect blend,” Courtney said.
Courtney heard brief presentations from the four Windham students, who spoke about their ECSU energy internship. The four were among about 60 students who were prepped by the Summer Youth Employment Youth Pipeline program for science and math-related internships earlier this summer at Three Rivers Community College in Norwich.
“At first I pursued this program just for summer employment and expected a minor experience,” Windham High School senior Jason Diaz told Courtney. “I would never have thought to gain more knowledge about my personal interest, which is computers and technology, that the Summer Youth Employment Program and The Institute for Sustainable Energy gave me. I plan on using these skills in the Air Force.”
Windham Tech junior Enmanuel Almonte told Courtney that he considered himself to be environmentally responsible, “but I’m amazed because I learned a lot of new things. I also gained valuable experience I could use in my future career as an engineer.”
Energy intern Kayla Fortier, a junior at Windham Tech, shared with Courtney that she is interested in manufacturing, adding, “I learned how it is to work, and all the things you have to do to be ready for work.”
Michael Akana, EASTCONN’s Director of Facilities and IT, led the students around EASTCONN’s Hampton office, both inside and out, so that students could evaluate energy usage. Akana also shared five years of data from EASTCONN’s oil, electricity, and gas consumption. Students will create a report with ways in which EASTCONN could save on energy.
“Through the Summer Youth Employment Program, we’re able to engage teens so they learn meaningful work skills that will enhance their educational experience, and ultimately, translate into future jobs,” said Cyndi Wells, who coordinates the EWIB-funded, EASTCONN Summer Youth Employment Program.
“These student interns have done walk-through energy audits of other facilities, and they will complete an energy report as part of their summer project through ECSU,” Wells said.
Hundreds of Connecticut youths, ages 14-24, have found paid summer internships across the region this summer, thanks to collaborating partners and area businesses that have supported the Summer Youth Employment Program. The program is intended to provide eligible youth with new, work-related skills in preparation for future careers. |
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Local Students Gain Employment Edge in Future Science Careers |
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 Left to right, Michelle Billips, who just graduated from Norwich Free Academy, Rubileysi Ramos, a junior at New London High School, and Paul Arroyo, who just graduated from New London High School, shared a flashlight to examine the holograms they created during the science, technology, engineering and math-focused, workplace-preparation Youth Pipeline Program, funded by the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board (EWIB).
Norwich - Sixty high-school students participating in the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board’s (EWIB) Youth Pipeline Program recently finished coursework preparing them for science-related professions that will give them an edge when seeking future jobs.
“The Pipeline Program made a big impression on us and what we want to do for a career,” said Omayra Torres, a senior at Windham Technical High School in Willimantic. She plans to be a nurse.
In preparation for summer internships, the students – 20 from Windham, 20 from Norwich and 20 from New London – completed one of three introductory science courses at Three Rivers Community College in Norwich, either in Healthcare; the Green Jobs Pathway; or Lasers/Holograms, part of the Pipeline Program’s focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
“It was great,” said Kevin Roman, a junior from Windham Technical High School, who enrolled in the Lasers/Holograms class. “It was interesting to learn about lasers and designs and I think this will help me. I’m in manufacturing technology at [Windham Tech.], and I want to build airplane parts.”
Each of the students will move into summer internships in related fields at a variety of worksites, including Eastern Connecticut State University’s Sustainable Energy Program, Windham Hospital in Willimantic, Backus Hospital in Norwich, the Town of Montville’s Building and Maintenance Dept., United Community and Family Services, Lawrence & Memorial Hospital, Veolia Water North America, Mystic Solar and Douglas Manor.
“Giving students hands-on experience in these growing science fields will improve their ability to find employment in careers that not only have strong futures, but also hold great appeal for them,” said EASTCONN’s Nancy Vitale. She directs the EWIB-funded Youth Pipeline Program.
Youth Pipeline students chose the career pathway that interested them most. They also built critical interpersonal and teamwork skills for the workplace.
“Students had to participate in the EASTCONN Cool Directions program before being allowed to apply for the highly competitive Youth Pipeline Program,” said EASTCONN’s Cyndi Wells, who coordinates both the Youth Pipeline and Cool Directions programs. “It was a rigorous application process,” she said. Cool Directions is an in-school, year-round program that helps students meet with academic success and prepares them for the world of work.
Now in its fourth year, the federally funded EWIB Youth Pipeline Program is made possible through a partnership between EWIB, EASTCONN, Norwich Youth and Family Services, and New London’s Office of Youth Affairs. This year, the partners also collaborated with TRCC and the Employment and Training Institute (ETI), which provided online training.
A culminating ceremony, celebrating the 60 students who completed the two-week-long program, was punctuated by lots of laughter, good-natured comments and clapping, as each student stepped forward to receive their certificate of completion in a TRCC lecture hall.
“This is a real celebration of a future that you’ve just begun,” said Peg Stroup, TRCC’s director of Business and Industry Services. “You will use what you’ve learned here throughout your work life. “ |
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K-12 Educators Invited to AAAS Atlas of Science Literacy Workshop in December |
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K-12 Educators Invited to AAAS Atlas of Science Literacy Workshop in December
Hampton – Educators from across the Northeast are invited to attend a three-day “Using Atlas of Science Literacy” workshop in Hampton, Conn., sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Project 2061 and co-hosted by EASTCONN.
Connecticut’s AAAS workshop, which will take place Dec. 1-3, 2010, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at EASTCONN’s Hampton Conference Center, 376 Hartford Tpke., is aimed at K-12 science and math educators, administrators and curriculum specialists. Team participation is encouraged, but individual registration is also welcome. Scholarships are available.
“Having the AAAS workshop here in Connecticut is a wonderful opportunity for local educators to take advantage of and learn how to use an internationally renowned science curriculum resource,” said Mary Lou Smith, a member of EASTCONN’s Science Cadre.
“AAAS played an integral part in the development of the newly released draft of the conceptual framework for new science education standards, so participation in the “Using Atlas of Science Literacy” workshop will allow educators, curriculum developers, and assessment developers to best utilize this resource in their work when the new science education standards are ultimately developed,” Smith said.
Workshop participants will gain new perspectives on standards-based reform and new teaching tools, using the Atlas of Science Literacy 1 and 2 and other Project 2061 resources to enhance their understanding of science literacy and improve curricula, instruction and assessment.
The “Using Atlas of Science Literacy” workshop is organized around four goals: understanding strand maps; clarifying standards; changing classroom practice; and improving curricula. AAAS Project 2061 staff members Ted Willard and Marlene Hilkowitz will be the presenters in Connecticut.
The two-volume Atlas of Science Literacy is an innovative resource that offers nearly 100 strand maps developed by the non-profit AAAS Project 2061. Strand maps present conceptual connections among the ideas and skills that all students should learn as they make progress toward science literacy. Maps graphically display how students might develop in their understanding of important topics such as gravity, natural selection, weather and climate, and statistical reasoning, from kindergarten through high school.
Both volumes of Atlas of Science Literacy are co-published by AAAS Project 2061 and the National Science Teachers Association. Project 2061 is a long-term AAAS initiative to advance student literacy in science, mathematics and technology. Learn more about AAAS Project 2061 at www.aaas.org.
In addition to the December AAAS “Using Atlas of Science Literacy” workshop at EASTCONN in Connecticut, four others are scheduled in 2010, including Aug. 16-18, in Lebanon, NH; Sept. 8-10, in Calgary, Canada; Oct. 13-15, in Washington, D.C.; and Nov. 10-12, in New York City.
Registration fees include breakfast and lunch, not accommodations. Early-bird registrants who attend with a team, pay $375 per person, while early-bird individuals pay $400 each. Non-early-bird team registrants pay $425 per person; or $450, if registering as individuals.
AAAS is offering a limited number of scholarships; the deadline for scholarship applications is Oct. 22, 2010.
Educators may register directly through the AAAS/Project 2061 Web site at www.project2061.org/workshops. For more information, contact Cheryl Latson of AAAS Project 2061, toll-free, at 888-727-2061.
EASTCONN is a public, non-profit, Regional Educational Service Center, that has been serving the education needs of northeastern Connecticut’s schools and communities since 1980. EASTCONN’s Science Cadre is co-hosting and helping organize the AAAS event in Hampton.
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Teens Teach Internet Safety |
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Northeastern Connecticut Teens Inform Peers about Internet Safety
Online predators. Sexting. Cyberbullying.
Discussions about these and other Internet pitfalls have become part of a national conversation about keeping students safe online.
With that in mind, the Connecticut State Police, the F.B.I. and representatives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Connecticut partnered with the state Department of Public Safety on a 2009-2010 Internet Safety program called “Student 2 Student,” in which high school sophomores and juniors were to make presentations to their peers about how to protect themselves online.
This spring, 24 students in the EASTCONN and LEARN regions, which stretch from the Guilford and New London area to the Massachusetts border, delivered a combined total of 45 presentations to 39 schools and 11,657 students.
In the EASTCONN region alone, 14 student volunteers from EASTCONN’s ACT arts magnet high school, Windham High School and Killingly High School, delivered Internet Safety assemblies to nearly 4,200 middle- and high-school-age students across northeastern Connecticut.
EASTCONN staff facilitator Noel Chemlen, who guided the EASTCONN-region Internet safety program, said her students gave effective, meaningful presentations that were well-received.
“It’s great for teens to hear from their peers,” Chemlen said. “They may be more inclined to listen.”
From Killingly High School, junior Naydene Gomes, and sophomores Samantha Tickey and Heather Slattery made Internet safety presentations to a combined total of nearly 2,400 students at Woodstock Middle School, Killingly High School, Putnam High School, Killingly Intermediate, and Ellis Technical School.
Nine ACT students gave safety programs to a combined total of 855 students at Tolland High School, Putnam High School, Lyman High School, and ACT. The ACT presenters included Ryan Hebert, Colchester; Sadie Hopkins, Putnam; Megan Nelson, Hampton; Riley Smith, Plainfield; Breeanna Korcak, East Hampton; Bryanne Auguste, Stafford; Kody Mooney, Plainfield; Alexis Clavette, Stafford Springs; and Brittney Austin, Coventry.
Two Windham High School students (sophomores Samaria Gutierrez and Ernesto Rivera, both from Willimantic), made their presentations to a combined total of more than 925 students at Windham Middle School, Coventry High School, Parish Hill, Windham High School, and EASTCONN’s Forensics 101 Interdistrict program.
Connecticut state troopers joined each presentation, emphasizing the seriousness of staying safe online. Student presenters dispensed Tip Line information and advice about handling difficult Internet-related situations.
A culminating celebration to honor the student volunteers from the EASTCONN and LEARN regions was held on June 1st in Hampton. A key Internet safety program organizer, Sgt. Jim Smith of the State Police Forensic Science Laboratory Computer Crimes unit, joined several Assistant U.S. Attorneys and other organizers to present students with certificates. About 70 people attended, including parents.
EASTCONN is a public, non-profit, Regional Educational Service Center (RESC) that has been serving the education needs of northeastern Connecticut schools and communities since 1980. |
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