Hunterdon County Polytech Education Students Shine in Competition

In a year of change, three Polytech education students aimed for a bit of consistency with top-place finishes in fall Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) events. They succeeded, each bringing home a gold medal and upholding the high school’s reputation for preparing knowledgeable and poised competitors.

The gold-medal winners include:

· Ava Dressendofer, a senior in Hunterdon County Polytech’s Teacher Academy, with a gold in the Caregiver Carry All Event, for which she designed 12 activities for preschool children to promote social-emotional learning; and

· Gina DeSanctis and Mayce Fleming, both juniors in Polytech’s Early Childhood Education program, each with gold in the Virtual Read Aloud Event, for which they created engaging scenes with props and supplemental activities to accompany their respective book recordings.

In a traditional school year, Polytech’s FCCLA officers would compete in-person during a fall leadership conference with regional chapters. This year, the conference moved online and expanded to become the first Unified Fall Leadership Conference, organized by the New Jersey Career and Technical Student Organizations, through the work of state officers and state advisors. Held Nov. 16-20, the conference ran for a few hours each day, offering students from all participating organizations virtual opportunities to interact, engage with college representatives, learn from motivational speakers, attend workshops and more.

When it came time to compete, the three Polytech students were among 220 total New Jersey FCCLA participants. They succeeded with help from Polytech Early Childhood Education and Teacher Academy instructor Natalie Guarino, who also serves as the FCCLA Chapter advisor. Guarino met with the students either virtually or when they attended school in their hybrid schedule, using the precious time they had together to fine-tune projects before uploading them for the judges.

“All of our students truly deserved the recognition they received,” said Guarino. She acknowledged that the changes to school schedules and formats required them to “meet tighter deadlines and exercise a higher level of creativity than prior years.” In fact, the Virtual Read Aloud Event was added this year to capture the new way teachers are engaging with young learners.

Both DeSanctis and Fleming transformed their surroundings and used props to keep listeners engaged. They also rose to the challenge of learning new skills, like integrating music into videos and making puppets.

Dressendofer’s project captured her attention to detail, as she meticulously followed and exceeded the rubric’s requirements to deliver a dozen unique activities that promoted social-emotional learning.

“These students were rewarded because they leveraged the knowledge and skills they learned through their Polytech coursework to create standout projects,” Guarino said.

The students also recognized their teacher’s role in their success. “Thanks to Ms. Guarino, I learned so much about kids and how they become engaged and learn,” Dressendofer said.

The winning students hope to compete during FCCLA spring leadership conferences. Currently, they are focused on leading Polytech’s FCCLA. The chapter recently hosted a food drive for the Lambertville food pantry, adopted a family for the holidays through the Salvation Army, and currently is raising money for future competitions, field trips and other chapter activities.

To learn more about the career-focused learning offered through the Hunterdon County Vocational School District, visit hcvsd.org, and sign up to attend a Virtual Information Session for either the full-time programs on Dec. 10 or the shared-time Polytech programs on Dec. 12. Applications for programs beginning next year are accepted through Dec. 18 using the “Apply Today” button at the top of the homepage.

Hunterdon County Polytech Career and Technical High School is the largest component of Hunterdon County Vocational School District (HCVSD). Polytech is the district’s shared-time high school that prepares students for a seamless transition to college and career paths. HCVSD also operates an Adult and Continuing Education school and three science-based high school academies: the Biomedical Sciences Academy, the Computer Science & Applied Engineering Academy and the Environmental Sustainability & Engineering Academy. Learn more at www.hcvsd.org.

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All pupils will be given equal opportunity for enrollment in programs operated by the Hunterdon County Vocational School District regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, affectional or sexual orientation, gender, religion, disability, or socioeconomic status (34 C.F.R. Part 100, Appendix B, Section IV-A). No qualified handicapped person shall, on the basis of handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity which receives federal financial assistance, et seq (34 C.F.R. Part 104.4(a)(b).