NEW HARTFORD — The course offerings of Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES take students beyond their traditional books and classrooms and into actual applications of what they are learning, said OHM BOCES Superintendent Patricia Kilburn.

“I think career and technical education is so incredible,” Kilburn said. “It really gives students the chance to apply what they learn hands-on.”

OHM BOCES opened its campus to the public for an open house Wednesday, giving students and staff the chance to showcase how Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs at OHM BOCES have evolved to meet the demands of the current labor market.

Kilburn said they had a great turnout for the open house, with more middle school students than they’ve had before.

Waterville Central School ninth grader Caleb Rotach and his dad Brian Rotach visited the automotive department to chat with Gordon Peckham, an auto tech/auto body repair occupations and Modules of Integrated Technologies (MiTech) teacher. Peckham and the elder Roach are also both former BOCES students themselves.

The guests listened as Peckham described how students rotate from station to station, spending only a few weeks at each in an effort to learn about a wide variety of automotive operations and repairs.

That was a really great way to see what the students liked, dad told Caleb as they listened to Peckham describe the program. It also is an opportunity to get away from their own home schools and meet new people, he added.

Caleb said he liked being able to explore all of the career paths at the open house.

The Career and Technical Education Center offers more than 20 programs, including seven New Visions programs, to students from the OHM BOCES’ 12 component school districts of Brookfield, Clinton, Holland Patent, New York Mills, New Hartford, Oriskany, Remsen, Sauquoit Valley, Utica, Waterville, Westmoreland and Whitesboro.

Jennah Day and her sister, Arynn Day of Remsen, listened as Chef Charles Hoffmeister described the culinary program and invited them to try making pretzels and loaded potatoes. Their dad, Michael Day, said he was impressed by all of the offerings at OHM BOCES and admitted he wished he had taken advantage of programs like that when he was a student.

(Check out this video clip of a student checking out the culinary program at the open house.)

Culinary student Ke’Von Fairweather, an 11th grader from Proctor High School, helped out at the event and said he got a kick out of watching their guests try to roll out their pretzel dough.

“It was great to have all of the people coming in to see what we do here,” Fairweather said.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for them to see the programs here — we really have an amazing facility,” Hoffmeister added.

CTE students at OHM BOCES get a real chance to experience some of what their working lives will be like when they graduate and get out into the workforce, Kilburn added.

“This helps them to see their future career,” she said. “They build up self-esteem knowing they can do the work and develop a real understanding of their own value. It is incredible.”

For more information, call the CTE Center at 315-793-8666 or visit www.oneida-boces.org.