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Hub for Student Career Guidance Explored at Forum

YORKTOWN, N.Y. - Creating a center to promote better education and careers in science and technology was explored by business, government and education leaders this week at a forum sponsored by the Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES Career and Technical Center and IBM.

Officials said fostering STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education and establishing a network of future workers in technical fields would help stimulate the region's economy.

"Business relies on all of you to prepare our future workforce. In the past, business expected you to get the job done and believed we didn't have to be engaged," said Sheila Appel, manager of corporate citizenship and corporate affairs for IBM. "In the Hudson Valley, we want this to be one of the strongest hubs in the state. We are a breeding ground for extraordinary success, because we care enough to come together."

James Langlois, superintendent of PNW BOCES, said there was "an opportunity to create a type of synergy" between education and industry that would be beneficial to everyone.

Daniel McCann, outgoing superintendent of schools for the Hendrick Hudson School District, said science and math instruction was being prioritized in his district, including offering two courses each in engineering and biomedicine. Overall, 200 of the 850 students in the high school are taking challenging science programs.

A steering committee established to study setting up the STEM Hub is scheduled to meet in late May.

 

 

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