Questar III BOCES has announced the expansion of its Career and Technical Education programs for the 2024-2025 school year, adding electrical trades, education careers, and firefighting to its offerings. The firefighting program will be a one-year complementary program to the existing one-year EMT program. The welding program will also be offered at a second school. Questar III also will look to expand some of its most popular programs like cosmetology, criminal justice, and culinary arts by adding additional sections. These expansions reflect Questar III BOCES’ effort to continuously expand the programs it offers to meet the needs of its students and the local job market.
The welding program, which currently exists at Donald R. Kline Technical School in Hudson, will expand to the Robert H. Gibson Technical School in Troy as part of a Workforce Development Grant Questar III BOCES received last year. This grant also opened classroom space to launch an electrical trades program.
The current one-year EMT program for seniors at Donald R. Kline Technical School will offer a second complementary one-year firefighting program for juniors. This is a direct result of a collaboration with Columbia and Greene counties aimed at providing training to increase the number of paid and volunteer firefighters in the region. These two programs can be taken individually or together. The school will also add an Education Careers program to help fill the need for teachers in New York State. Students in this program have an opportunity to advance to the honors-level New Visions: Pathways in Education program. Both are targeted at preparing students for education related fields.
“We’re constantly listening to what our local job market is seeking,” said Questar III BOCES Associate Superintendent Dr. James Niedermeier. “We want to provide students with programs that will prepare them for lucrative and fulfilling careers while filling immediate regional employment needs. This makes it a win-win for both our students and our communities.”
Students interested in attending any of our CTE programs are encouraged to speak with their school counselor.
