After an action-packed day of demonstrating their technical skills and leadership qualities while facing off against students from across the region during the 2025 SkillsUSA Regional Competition, 46 young professionals from the Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center took to the stage to accept medals.

Ulster County students enrolled in the Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center (CTC) and Hudson Valley Pathways Academy (HVPA) are earning a strong reputation for their workplace learning success across New York State by taking on various roles where they are able to showcase their career readiness.

More than a dozen students, known as young professionals at CTC and young scholars at HVPA, recently played pivotal roles in the New York State Career Readiness Educators Association (NYS CREA) Conference. The event brought career and technical teachers, administrators, and work-based learning coordinators from across New York State together at the Venue Uptown in Kingston, New York, for a two-day professional development and networking experience designed to support members in providing their students with "real-world" career development opportunities. 

Students at the Ulster BOCES Center for Innovative Teaching & Learning (CITL) at Mount Marion engaged in creative hands-on activities to learn about the traditions of the 15-day Lunar New Year celebration.

New Paltz High School’s Ethan Greger and Jacob Frost, who attend two innovative Ulster BOCES Career Pathways Programs, have been working together to complete a project that many adult professionals could only dream of: designing, programming, and fabricating 48 matching doors that will be used to deploy satellites on the International Space Station. 

The future of Georgia Maritsas, a former young professional of the Ulster BOCES Transitional Occupation Program (TOP A) who graduated from Kingston City School District in 2024, is in the bag–a granola bag, that is. Since completing the program in June, Georgia has successfully launched a local business selling her own healthy granola mixture, known as Georgia’s Organic Granola.

During a casual “icebreaker” activity in Special Education teacher Mary Ellen Kieser’s classroom at the Ulster BOCES Center for Innovative Teaching & Learning (CITL) at Port Ewen, students were talking about their favorite snacks.

Young professionals enrolled in Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center programs recently gained hands-on experience in community leadership by supporting the fifth annual Mid-Hudson Valley Leadership Day.

Ulster BOCES has announced that Katherine Faye Hammill has been appointed Director of the Mid-Hudson Information Center (MHRIC). Hammill, who currently resides in Rochester, is planning to relocate to the Kingston area. She will assume her duties at the MHRIC’s New Paltz offices in January.

Young professionals who attend the Ulster BOCES Transitional Occupation Program Top-A and Top-C, along with those from the Phoenix Academy, recently came together for a multi-program collaboration to bake 200 pumpkin pies and provide marketing support for a community festival, hosted by local Saugerties entrepreneur in the automotive industry, Brian Morris.

What does the future of education look like? Dr. Jonah Schenker, District Superintendent at Ulster Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), aims to uncover the answer in its new podcast, Leading for Deeper Learning with Ulster BOCES, where he and his guests explore the bold ideas and innovative leadership transforming today’s schools—starting with a timely look at New York State's evolving graduation standards. 

The Step Up! program at the Ulster BOCES Center for Innovative Teaching & Learning (CITL) at Mt. Marion, run by Occupational Therapists (OTs) Laura Dipper and Katharine Heuman-Heeney and Occupational Therapist Assistant Elizabeth Walkden, helps students build essential life and vocational skills.

For the past eight years, the Ulster County School Boards Association (UCSBA) has recognized community members with the Distinguished Friend of Education Award.

The Meals Ready-to-Eat (MREs) that U.S. military service members are provided when food service is not readily available are not typically known as culinary masterpieces. Nevertheless, that is exactly what the young professionals in the Culinary Arts II program at the Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center were determined to create this fall.

Scott Landry, a veteran educator with more than three decades of experience in education, leadership, and financial services, has been appointed as principal of the Career Pathways Programs at the Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center in Port Ewen.

Students from the Ulster BOCES Center for Innovative Teaching & Learning in Port Ewen are spending their school mornings at the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston, learning the craft of boat-building from skilled shipwrights. 

The Ulster Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), a leader in innovative educational services delivery, today announced the opening of applications for Deep Dive session facilitators at the upcoming Deeper Learning
New York conference (DLNY 2025). This marks the second year Ulster BOCES will partner with Deeper Learning Global to host this transformative event.

DLNY 2025, scheduled for July 15–16, 2025, centers on the theme “Leading for Deeper Learning.” The conference provides educators an interactive experience during which they discover new horizons in education, benefiting students and their families.

Tucked away at the end of the first-floor hallway of the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) at Port Ewen is the Level Up! program, a bustling hub for students to gain practical life and vocational skills.

Two Ulster BOCES employees—Mid-Hudson Regional Information Center (MHRIC) Director Danielle Yeomans and Central Administration Secretary Ean McDermott—along with others around the region, will be honored by The Mid-Hudson School Study Council (MHSSC) for their outstanding contributions to education at the 2024 Awards for Excellence ceremony on October 16.