YOUTH ON THE GO
A crew of Ulster BOCES students from the Saugerties Central School District is “paying it forward” by helping to build a home for a family of five through Habitat for Humanity (Ulster Habitat), a nonprofit organization that recruits volunteers to build affordable homes for those in need.
Most of the students are enrolled in the two-year Ulster BOCES electrical construction & maintenance program. These students are using the skills they have learned in class to help build a home on Donna’s Way in Glasco, N.Y.
Students participating in the project include seniors Kaitlyn Lennon, Dylan Senor and Jonathan Toth; and juniors Dale Wolgamuth, Ian Foster and Ben Rappoport.
“I’m proud to be working on a project like this,” Lennon, an electrical student, said in a press release. “How cool is it that I get to help make a family’s dream of homeownership come true?”
Added Ulster Habitat Project Manager Peter Tirc, “I’m so impressed with all of the student volunteers. They are always ready and willing to jump in and help out; they always come to work with smiles on their faces.”
The Saugerties students received special permission from Ulster BOCES Electrical Construction & Maintenance Instructor Robert Jones to travel to the worksite on asynchronous learning school days to hone their electrical skills. This opportunity also gives students the chance to shadow other trade professionals, including carpenters, painters and masons, at the worksite.
Saugerties Guidance Counselor and lead project advisor Michael Catalano, who holds a master electrician license, said he is “proud to watch these kids in action.” Through Catalano’s guidance, the students help rough-in the electrical wiring (cables which are pulled through the studs and arranged inside the walls), plan out the location of electrical outlets and install receptacle boxes.
“These students are using the electrical theory that they have learned in class and are putting it into real practice,” he said.
Despite the lack of internship opportunities due to COVID-19, Ulster Habitat and the Saugerties Central School District wanted to help secure this particular internship and worked hard to consider all safety precautions. Each student is required to follow Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards, not only for workplace safety, but for COVID-19 safety as well. Ulster Habitat and the school limited the number of students working on the site to fewer than 10 people at a time. Students were also required to wear face masks, hard hats, eye protection and more.
Even though the students are working inside an enclosed structure, there is no heat, so it can get pretty cold, Catalano said. Working in low temperatures not only requires proper clothes, but also calls for a good mindset.
Catalano recalled one cold afternoon when Toth was the only student who came to the job site to help work on the electrical panel. Catalano said he pushed Toth hard that day and talked about the importance of exhibiting good workmanship. Later, the construction manager took notice of Toth’s clean work and complimented him on it.
“It feels really good to have a skill that can help others,” Toth said.
Throughout the build, the future homeowners (drawn from the local community) invest their own “sweat equity” before they are allowed to take ownership. “Every Ulster Habitat family must meets three criteria: A need for housing, the ability to pay an affordable mortgage and a willingness to invest between 200-400 hours of ‘sweat equity,’” Tirc said.
Since 2019, a total of 23 students enrolled in the electrical construction & maintenance program have applied their in-class lessons to the construction of three Ulster Habitat homes on Donna’s Way. The last house is expected to be completed sometime in the spring.
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Ava Byrne and Gwendolyn Glennon were named the Hunter-Tannersville Middle/High School students of the month for November.
Byrne, an eighth-grader, represented the Maroon group (grades 7-9). Glennon, an 11th-grader, represented the Gold group (grades 10-12).
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The New Windsor-based Maj. Gen. Irene TrowellHarris Chapter of the national Tuskegee Airmen Inc. has awarded scholarships totaling $13,000 to eight high school students.
The students are Hannah Cullen and Mya Zilberberg, both of Newburgh Free Academy; Michaela Brown, Nicole Davis and Nathan Woinicki, all of Cornwall Central High School; Manpreet Kaur of Middletown High School, Dominique Gooden of Storm King School in Cornwall-on-Hudson and Celest Ibarra of TriValley Central School in Grahamsville.
The awards will be handed out at a “virtual dinner” taking place on Saturday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m.
The Trowell-Harris Tuskegee Airmen chapter has been granting tuitionassistance awards since 1999. During those 22 years, it has bestowed a total of more than $238,000 on students bound for colleges and vocational schools. The chapter has now established the Hudson Valley Tuskegee Airmen Endowment Fund to guarantee the viability of future scholarships in perpetuity, as part of the chapter’s mission to protect the legacy of the original World War II Tuskegee Airmen and their part in the vast movement for civil rights for African Americans.