Approximately 65 Grade 8 students from Ellenville Middle School and 65 Grade 4 students from the Kingston City School District's John F. Kennedy Elementary School visited the Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center in Port Ewen recently. The young students visited the center to learn about the 25 different career and technical education (CTE) career paths currently offered to high school students interested in getting a head start on their future professions.

In addition to touring the state-of-the-art classrooms and real-life career labs, each young school student selected two career programs to explore in-depth during the visit. Current Ulster BOCES students actively participated in the visit and shared their own CTE experiences with the young students.

Dean Lucera, principal of the Career & Technical Center, explained that the tours are a good way to encourage elementary and middle school students to start thinking about their futures. "The visitations are designed to help students understand what their career choices are after graduation and how to go about attaining their goals," he said.

This is the second year the Career & Technical Center hosted this event.