By Marlene McTigue
Capital Region Independent Media
On a recent hot and steamy Tuesday morning, 13 juniors from high schools all over the region converged on Vanderbilt Town Park as they had been for the past four weeks. Their goal? To make essential improvements.
We’re not talking about picking up litter or mowing the grass here. These students are a part of the Questar III BOCES HERO program. And HERO may not stand for what you think.
It’s the Heavy Equipment Repair and Operations program, a two-year program based on the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) curriculum.
Open to juniors and seniors throughout Greene, Columbia and Rensselaer counties, the program allows students to learn how to operate and maintain large, construction-related equipment. Types of equipment include backhoes, dozers, front-end loaders, excavators and forklifts. The students also learn how to diagnose and repair common issues with diesel engines and heavy machine operation.
As students worked at the park that Tuesday morning, the class was widening the road leading to the back of the park. The group, all young men in this section although there is one young woman in the senior group, was made up of a mix from many Capital Region schools. They came from Greenville, Cairo, Coxsackie, Catskill, Germantown, Red Hook and Taconic Hills high schools.
Erik Nicholson, heavy equipment instructor for Questar lll BOCES, and Kaitlin Myhre, teaching assistant, were running the crew at Vanderbilt Park.
“I was asked to be an instructor and I said that I would give it a try because this kind of a program was not available when [I was] young,” said Nicholson. “So, I thought, this was something I could do to help the kids. I think it is a great program and I think they should take advantage of it.”
“I’ve been doing this since I was probably 14 years old so going on 40 years now,” he continued. “I learned it because my father had his own excavating business, and we always did our own site work, and I did my own work for years.”
Students participate in the HERO program for two years.
“We get juniors in the a.m. and seniors in the p.m., so they are here for two years, and we have them for half of a day each class. They normally report to our school in Durham, which is on Route 145, even though the rest of the CTE programs are in Hudson,” said Nicholson. “We are located in Durham because they have the space that someone donated, eight acres where the kids can run the equipment and they also have the opportunity to get their CDL license when they are in the program.”
Nicholson says the Greenville park job has been a great opportunity for the kids to see what they can accomplish with their skills while helping in the community.
“We were asked in the fall about working for the park. We had to clean out an entire section in the back and widen all the parking lots, we put some drainage in and did some work on the trails,” he said. “Now we are widening the road out of the park, because when people are here, they are always parking on the lawns. So, we were able to add more parking. We also cleared a whole section in the back, and we also cleaned sections of material that were left from like 35 years ago.”
The students leave the program well equipped for employment, according to Nicholson and Myhre.
“These kids get tons of certifications while they are in program. We do stop-the-bleed training, they get their OSHA 10 and OSHA 30 while they are in the school. They get flagged certification. They get a small masonry certification,” said Myhre.
Nick Gerken of Greenville High School feels the program is setting him up for a profitable future. Gerken, who has already started his own landscaping business, sees the value of attending.
“It’s been great so far. I’m learning a lot and I’m really going to try to apply it to my business. I really like learning to do new things everyday — getting to do what most people can’t. This is a great opportunity that I got to take so I am grateful for it,” said Gerken.
Gerken explained how the school day looks in the HERO program.
“We go right to Durham instead of normal school and we’re there from 8-11. Then you go back to your home schools. During your time there (at the program) you could be doing some classwork. If it’s nice outside you go out all day and learn new things,” he said.
Cody Kavanaugh of Germantown High School said he is enjoying the program.
“I thought it was a great opportunity to get my OSHA certifications and CDL. The program is awesome,” said Kavanaugh.
Brad Vavrina, of Germantown, who has already received his flagger and OHSA 10 certifications, joined the program because he is interested in a career that will allow him to travel out of state.
“The instructors are nice, and the program is fun,” said Vavrina. “I like leaving school and doing something more interesting than sitting in a classroom all day.”
And though the school year will be wrapping up soon the HERO students aren’t done yet.
They will also be making improvements at the Durham Museum and working on putting in animal runs for the Ag Science program at the Durham Questar building.