Sunday Lifestyles

‘Opportunity’ beckons: P-TECH celebrates advancing, graduate students

WNY P-TECH in Dunkirk recently celebrated its fifth Senior Advancement ceremony to recognize students moving on to the Jamestown Community College portion of their educational journey.

For the third year, students graduating from Jamestown Community College with a degree in their chosen pathway were also recognized. Through internships and direct industry connections, P-TECH students often find themselves employed in short order - and more often now find themselves back at school, speaking on behalf of their companies.

Speaking for this year's Business Partner Award Recipient Bush/eSolutions Furniture was Joel Amadori, engineering technician and WNY P-TECH 2023 graduate.

"I just graduated from JCC and got hired for a full-time position at Bush Industries. I enjoy what I do and who I work with. I go to work every day knowing I will learn or think about something I never had before," he said. "I can't imagine what life would have been like without PTECH. I wouldn't know what engineers do or what CADD is. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything else."

Amadori joined the remainder of his JCC Mechanical Technology Design classmates Chase Cooper of Gowanda, Alex Crow of Fredonia, Jailene Jimenez and Iann Ramirez of Dunkirk, and Ian Szymanek of Silver Creek; Mechanical Technology Machine Tool graduates Summer Hannold of Jamestown and Makenzie Lawton of Pine Valley; and Welding Technology graduate Eric Raynor of Falconer.

"The next step in your education or your career path lies ahead of you and plenty of opportunities will come your way. Thomas Edison has been quoted as saying 'Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.' Now we can take this literally since a good portion of you are headed into hands-on careers that certainly may call for overalls and boots, but I like to think of it differently," said Erin Moynihan, WNY P-TECH counselor. "The general idea is that anything worth doing in this life will require some effort to see it through. Lean into that. Embrace the hard moments within great opportunities because, in those moments, you will grow personally and professionally."

Moynihan joined William Smock, WNY P-TECH principal, in congratulating Bennett, Jayden Chudy, Lynn Marie Contreras, Brayden Reading, Liam Rivera, Spencer Shearer, and Xavier Warrior of Dunkirk; Rebecca DeYoung and Chace Fisher of Silver Creek; Jayden Elifritz of Jamestown; Kaidyn Lazar and Marcus Williams of Lake Shore; Tyler Mathews of Fredonia; and Carson Reger of Pine Valley.

Brayden Reading spoke on behalf of the senior class and shared fond memories the class experienced over the past four years.

"We were wide-eyed freshmen, nervous yet eager to embark on this transformative journey. Our hearts were filled with dreams, and our minds were open to the knowledge that awaited us. Little did we know the profound impact these years would have on our lives," he said. "We embraced diversity, recognizing that our differences were not barriers but gateways to new perspectives. We fostered an inclusive community that celebrated various backgrounds, cultures, and beliefs, enriching our collective experience. It is within these classrooms that we discovered our passions, engaged in spirited debates, and learned to think critically."

A number of scholarships and awards were presented, but none more meaningful than the Wyatt Butcher Memorial Scholarship given to William Rivera and Brayden Reading by Wyatt Butcher's mother, Julia Witherell.

"Wyatt was proud to be a P-TECH student and loved this school," she said. "To honor Wyatt, we organized a scholarship fund in his name. It gives us great pleasure to be in front of you today to present our first scholarship awards to two special students."

Additional awards included the presentation of the Robert Guiffreda Memorial Scholarship, Jermy Dolce Memorial Scholarship, and College Connections Student of the Year awards to Liam Rivera; and the TBEA Scholarship, which was presented to Xavier Warrior.

The evening ended with a passionate speech from Liam Rivera, who thanked his family for their support and role in shaping him into the student and person he is today.

"I remember my mom was ecstatic about the idea of me going to this school. I remember her saying over and over again, 'Liam, this is exactly what you need. This school will be so good for you and it's going to help you so much with your dream job,'" he said. "What surprised me the most is what P-Tech stood for and this was not only to educate their students then throw them out into the real world, not at all. It was meant to bring people together both teachers and students to complete one single goal and that goal was to succeed not only in P-Tech but later in your life as well."