Seniors at Questar III’s Rensselaer Educational Center honored the internship partners they worked with over the course of the year with a breakfast and recognition ceremony Tuesday June 2nd.
REC Principals Anthony DeFazio and Tracy Racicot, Work-based learning coordinator Teresa Mills, and recruiter Pam Mertz spoke at the breakfast thanking the various business partners for the dedication to helping CTE students grow and gain real-world experience in the field.
“Today marks a year of celebration and success. Our students have been on journeys throughout their Career and Technical Education over the last year,” Mertz said.
“The mentors in this room epitomize the best of the best. The work you’ve done with our students is invaluable. The experiences they’ve had with you and your colleagues will not only serve them in their professional futures, but today as well,” said Mills.
Students intern in various locations including police departments, salons, educational centers, and construction sites.
“This is really powerful for us to see so many adults entering the lives of our children, and 
we say children because they really are like one of us,” DeFazio said of the work-based learning experience.
“These invaluable work-based learning experiences could have never happened without your patience, flexibility, and willingness to support our students,” Mills said.
Each student also awarded their mentor a certificate and spoke about their experience at their internship.
“This internship gave me an awesome real world experience. Sergeant Bateman always had something for us to do,” Tatum Cavener said of her Mentor, Sgt. Scott Bateman of the 109th Airlift Wing.
Skyler Dayton said of his mentor, Sergeant Andrew Norwacki also of the 109th Airlift Wing, “My squadron and I got to go through different fields on the base. I really appreciated the face that we were able to go on the base and get a general knowledge of multiple systems of the aircraft.”
“This internship taught me that it’s ok to ask questions no matter how stupid it sounds in your head. Dan taught me that there’s always a solution. Working at Zachary’s was one of the best experiences of my HS career,” said Morgan Percey of her time working with Dan Raymond of Zachary’s Pastry Shop.
Percey’s hard work paid off- she was offered a job at the pastry shop, which she accepted.
REC also awarded the first ever Business Partner of the Year award to Tom Hoey of SUNY Albany’s Telecommunications Department. Hoey has mentored dozens of AIT (Academy of Information Technology) students over the last several years.
Culinary students provided eggs, bacon, sausage, and pastries for the event.
