VERONA — The New York State School Boards Association honored the MOBOCES Career and Technical Education Automotive Technology program with a Champions of Change Award, recognizing the program for its unique learning format and strong partnership with a local business.

NYSSBA Area 5 Director Bill Miller presented a commemorative banner to the MOBOCES Board of Education at its June 2 meeting. Auto Tech teacher Phil Maitland and CTE Administrator Phil Helmer, who formerly taught the Auto Tech class, also spoke at the meeting about the benefits of having a hands-on learning program embedded at the Nye Auto Group in Oneida.

“When you have students, high school age kids, 17, 18 years old, and they’re going to work with a tech who’s 40 and been doing this for 20 years, their attitude completely changes,” Helmer said. “So it’s not just the education side and getting those skills, but also the exposure to – this is what real life is going to be if you go down this path. I cannot stress enough how impactful this has been, not just for the program, but for BOCES as a whole.”

The Champions of Change initiative celebrates innovative school programs around the state that succeed in addressing equity issues, promoting academic success and create cutting-edge and future-oriented learning environments for students.

The Auto Tech award is the second time this school year that NYSSBA has recognized a unique MOBOCES program with a Champions of Change award.