CTE students help Yaddo get ready for winter

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> When people pass by the Yaddo Gardens on Union Avenue, they may not realize there is a unique educational and community partnership taking place behind the historic gates.

Yaddo is a retreat for artists located on a 400-acre estate. Its mission is to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.

Students in the Career and Technical Education horticulture, landscaping, and floral design program at Washington Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton- Essex BOCES work with Yaddo Garden Association volunteers to preserve the historic grounds.

An inter-generational exchange of knowledge and hands-on experience takes place each week in the fall and spring. CTE students from area high schools work alongside the volunteers doing a variety of garden maintenance. Tasks include raking, trimming, caring for rock gardens and ferns, trimming tree limbs, and planting perennials and rose bushes.

They gain valuable real world experience in their field and in exchange, they lend a hand to caring volunteers. The students even take the fish from Yaddos fountains and winter them at the F. Donald Myers Education Center. This collaboration has been in effect for many years.

“It has been a great collaboration,” says Joanne McFadden, a Yaddo Garden Association volunteer.

“The community partnership has given our students the opportunity to improve their skills and also helps see community engagement in action,” said Doug Fleischut, the program’s instructor. “They love to take care of the fish and return them each spring.”

CTE-WSWHE BOCES provides an array of classes for 11th and 12th grade students as well as adults. CTE classes include Auto Body Repair, Automotive Technology, Construction Trades, Cosmetology, Crimi

nal Justice Studies, Culinary Arts and Hospitality, Early Childhood Education, Environmental Conservation and Forestry, Graphic and Visual Communications, Health Occupations, HVAC-R, Heavy Equipment Maintenance and Operation, Horse Care, Horticulture, Landscaping and Floral Design, Machine Tool Technology, Power Sport Technology, and Welding.

CTE also offers Service Level Hospitality, Service Level Human Services, and Service Level Technical and Trade Services programs, as well as New Visions Engineering and New Visions Health Careers Exploration.

SUNY Adirondack Early College Career Academy programs in Electrical Technology/ Advanced Manufacturing, Information Technology/Computer Networking, New Media and Business Entrepreneurship are also available at CTE.

For more information: visit CareerAndTechEd. org.