May Board Meeting Honorees

Tonight, the Man/Tran students of the month were honored at the JOC monthly meeting. Those two students are both from the Dover School District.

1) Christian Marks, 11th grade, Metal Machining

2) Jared Lucas, 9th grade, Collision Repair

In addition, there were many students from across the school honored tonight due to their successes among different competetions. Chris Rodriguez (Collision Repair) was presented as a 2nd place Skills USA winner. Plus, we had a surprise appearance at the board meeting from alum Deavon Brown, '10 (Auto), who attended to support a friend from another academy who was being honored by the JOC. What a great night!

Athletic Awards Banquet

Last night was the 10th annual YCST Athletic Awards Banquet, and what an awesome evening! It was so well planned (thanks to Mrs. Hoyle, Ms. Brown, and Mrs. Parks in collaboration with Mr. Caruso and the staff of the Praise Center/Heritage Hills)... and then so many students were honored. Mr. Caruso emphasized that YCST, for the 5th year in a row, exceeded the maximum number of students who had participated in athletics.... we were well above 400 students participating in sports here. That's over 25% of the student population!!! Again, it was great to honor the partnership we have with Jim Mustard and the rest of the staff and students at York Country Day. This partnership has been so beneficial to the students of both schools.

Man/Tran students cleaned up! It doesn't hurt that Man/Tran had a HUGE increase of participation in athletics this year.... our junior high teams were PACKED with Man/Tran students.

First, there were door prizes. Here are the Man/Tran students who won door prizes last night: Ben Aldinger (Auto), Kyle Harrison (Metal Machining), Stephuan Montouth (Welding), Christian Marks (Metal Machine), and Dakota Ross (Welding).

Another highlight of last night was seeing Luiz Diaz (Collision Repair) present the Players' Choice Coach of the Year Award to Coach Graham. He was so mature and well-spoken on the podium.

Right before the presentation of Coach Graham's award, the entire boys' track team was honored for being the district III champs in YAIAA this year. Some of the M/T students on the track team who were present last night were: Luiz Diaz (Collision), Ben Aldinger (Auto), Deante Weldon (Auto), and Calvin Savary (Welding).

Dani Aikens (Metal Machining) not only won the Outstanding Athletic Achievement Award, but it was also announced that she was the YAIAA co-softball Player of the Year - as only a 10th grader... WOW!

Here's the list of the rest of the Man/Tran students who won awards last night:

1) Male Outstanding Athletic Achievement Award - Luiz Diaz (Collison)

2) Freshman Male Renaissance Positive Athlete Award - Cody Thompson (Auto)

3) Player of the Year in Golf - Nick Houston (Diesel)

4) Bowling Champion Award - Cheyenne Brown (Diesel)

York Tech Family - Auto Edition

You may think - what's so special about these pictures? It's just the morning and afternoon shop groups of Mr. Kessler and Mr. Merges... but if you look closely, you will see a properly uniformed visitor - Mr. Kessler's daughter, standing next to Mr. Kessler. She spent the day with us yesterday, as Mr. Kessler was out of the building on Bring Your Child To Work day, and his daughter really loved spending time in the shop last year. The students were on their best behavior with a second grader around, and they treated her with the utmost respect. Just another reason why this place feels like such a family.....

Auto Olympics!!

This past week was the annual York Tech Automotive Olympics. Pictured above are the 1st year students competing for their first time, although the upper classmen also participated. During this competition, tasks are determined by Mr. Merges and Mr. Kessler for the students to complete, and the students who receive 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place get to wear little trophies the rest of the day. Some of the students I saw wearing trophies were:

Colton Miller

AJ Albino

Corin Sappe

Brittany Mayr

Patrick Hull

Edwin Coston

Co-Op Banquet

Last night was the co-op banquet. The coordinators (Mr. Mark and Mrs. Warner) did a great job at organizing the event. The meal was fantastic (thanks Chef Baker and Culinary students), and the students and their employers were honored with certificates. One co-op student spoke from each academy (Kyle Harrison, Metal Machine student) was ours to discuss how his co-op experience impacted him. Several of the students academic and technical teachers also attended. Mrs. Bassett (Guidance Counselor), Mr. Yarrison (Welding Instructor) and Ms. Lenz (Special Ed instructor) were among those who attended to support the students. It was a very nice event (all of our Man/Tran students even had button-down shirts on -very impressive!).

Here is the list of M/T students who were honored last night:

Zach Allman (Welding)
Jake Watson (Welding)
Devin Greenplate (Welding)
Jon Tracey (Welding)
Kyle Harrison (Metal Machine)
Dan Waltimyer (Welding)
Brandon Godfrey (Diesel)
Dave Orwick (Diesel)
Eric Shearer (Welding)
Kevin Markle (Diesel)
Nick Houston (Diesel)
Josh Hisey (Diesel)
Nick Roth (Diesel)
Josh Wagner (Auto)
Will Sydor (Welding)
Aaron Beavers (Diesel)
Dustin Redman (Metal Machine)
Paul Storke (Diesel)
Jake Anderson (Welding)

May - Busy and Fun at Tech

For a few days last week, the Festo Learning Systems Mobile Mechatronics Lab visited the YCST campus. The local York Dispatch visited as well, and took a picture of some of our Auto students testing out the equipment. I also received very sincere and sweet thank you letters from an English 9 class that I allowed to go out and visit it.

Last night was the prom, and WOW, did our students look great and they behaved even better. Maybe someone will send me some pictures to post, since I forgot to bring a camera :(

This week, we have two great dinner events coming up. First, on Tuesday night, we will be honoring our Co-Op employers and students with a banquet, organized by Mr. Mark and Ms. Warner. On Wednesday night, we are holding our annual senior banquet for 12th grade students and their families at a new location, the Praise Center.

STAR Student/NOCTI Incentives Assembly

Yesterday afternoon, there was an assembly held for 11th and 12th graders to recognize the top student in each shop for the year (STAR student) and to have drawings for prizes for all students who score proficient and advanced on the NOCTI exam. Here are the following Man/Tran winners:

STAR Students - Aaron Callis (Auto), Kole Krysiak (Diesel), Rachel Styers (Welding), Kyle Aikens (Power Equip), Cody Miller (Collision) and Kyle Harrison (Metal Machining).

The following seniors won prizes from the drawings. There names were entered into the drawing for scoring successfully on the NOCTI exam -

Reserved Parking Spot: Jesse Blair (Collision)

Lunch with the Director and Asst. Director in the SPARTAN Inn: Dan Waltemire (Welding), Rick Wilson (Diesel), and Josh Wertz (Welding)

Free Prom Ticket: Jacob Watson (Welding)

Best Buy Gift Card: Franklyn Ramos (Auto)

Monday Work

I was able to take pictures of the hard work being completed in the Weld and Diesel shops yesterday. I was amazed at the balance of the diesel student under the hood.

This is going to be a busy week for York Tech students. Tomorrow afternoon is the STAR student assembly, where a student from each shop area is chosen to receive an award. One student in the academy (usually a senior) will be chosen as the STAR student for the entire academy.

On Thursday, all students will attend an assembly by grade level sponsored by the student assistance team (SPART) in reference to making good decisions around prom time and always.

YCST Reading Initiative

You might wonder.... how does this picture match the title of this entry? On Wednesday, this was the beautiful sight I had on my trip up to State College to participate in a training with several of our teachers (Mr. Kessler - Automotive, Mrs. Lenz - Special Education, Mrs. Zortman - English, and Mr. Marks - Graphic Arts). The Technical Assistance Program (TAP) provides our school the additional opportunity for specialized training as folks who work at a career and technical high school. Many of us (including thos listed above) have been working hard, creating and implementing a plan to help our students learn to demonstrate the reading skills they have in the technical and academic classes

YCST Staff Participates in YWCA Race Against Racism

This past Saturday, several staff members and their friends/family members joined me in participating in the YWCA Race Against Racism 5K Run/Walk. Pictured above is Mr. Kessler (Auto Instructor) who had the best time among our folks, coming in at 21:20. The other current YCST teachers who participated were Ms. Falvey (Spec. Ed), Ms. Pavlick (English), Mrs. Schaeberle (Sped. Ed.), and Mrs. Stiger (Spec. Ed.). A special thanks to Mrs. Caruso (Science) who stood along E. Market St. with her dogs cheering us on and taking pictures.