Page 16 - Skills - 2024

GETTING SKILLS
Westchester Training
Providers Teach
In-Demand Skills
BY RITA ROSS
14 2024 SKILLS
What’s Hot. What’s Next. What’s Needed.
Westchester offers a wide assortment of educational and training pathways for students and job seekers looking to gain valuable skills needed in the workforce. Here’s an overview of several helpful countywide options.
Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES
(www.pnwboces.org)
“Especially with the rising cost of college, we’re a great alternative for education and training,” says Stephen Lowery, director of Career and Technical Education at Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES, or PNW BOCES. (The acronym BOCES is short for Boards of Cooperative Educational Services.)
Serving 18 school districts, PNW BOCES provides classroom studies and hands-on training, certificate programs and internships, plus continuing education, and GED and adult literacy classes. Students can focus on fields including architecture, engineering, hospitality, fashion design, law enforcement, special education, and dozens more.
One big draw: its electrical classes incorporating fundamentals of solar and wind technology, and intro training in electric vehicles. “Learning about EVs is
a combo of our auto mechanics and electrical programs,” Lowery says. “First- year students learn how to fix mechanical things in the cars. In year two, they learn about the software and how EVs work in terms of the electrical component.”
Lowery adds: “We’re also seeing a lot of students clamoring to get into HVAC, carpentry and the construction trades.” To help them prepare, PNW BOCES
is partnering with local unions by inviting electricians, carpenters, bricklayers,
© Sherry Bruck, Harquin © PNW BOCES
© PNW BOCES