NECN Features Culinary Arts Students & Brass Lantern Restaurant

Hello SSVT Community,

On Tuesday March 24th,, New England Cable News (NECN) featured SSVT on its Making the Grade segment of its 9:00 news broadcast.   Click here for that video clip.

What a wonderful showcase for all the awesome students in Culinary Arts and the value of a vocational technical education!  Viewers can clearly see how passionate and motivated students can be when engaged with their hands-on work.  We are all very proud of you.

---Mr. Hickey

Time to Download the new SSVT App!

Hello SSVT Community,

Many of you have probably heard by now that SSVT has its own app.  I want to encourage staff, students and parents to download the app at your earliest convenience. We have received great feedback from those who have already downloaded it.

The app helps you access all of our school information in one place from any mobile device.  It gives you access to the school bulletin, news, sports information, important notifications, links to log into PowerSchool and much more.

To download the app visit the app store on your Apple device or the Google Play store on your Android device and search for “South Shore Vocational Tech HS”. 

If you have any questions feel free to contact the tech department via email iParenthelp@ssvotech.org or via phone at 781-878-8822 x451.  Thanks for staying connected with SSVT!   

---Mr. Hickey

Below are a few tips to help you get started with the app:

Directory:  Provides a listing of all teachers and staff, giving you an easy way to contact teachers or other staff members.

PowerSchool:  Provides a link for you to log into PowerSchool.  If you do not already have the PowerSchool app installed you will be prompted to do so.  If prompted for the district code, you will need to enter:  CLGC

Notifications:  This is where you'll find important notifications from the school - like snow days, Delayed starts, or a notification that your bus is going to be running late.  

If you swipe left, you'll go to page 2 of the app. Below is a list and description of each of the icons available on this page:

Stream:  Is a running stream of all social media and calendar posts related to SSVT.

Calendar:  A calendar of day and evening activities at SSVT.

News:  See news articles related to SSVT.

Tip Line:  The tip line provides the community with a way to notify Administration of events they consider important.  There are several categories available, including Bullying, Drugs, Kudos/Praise, Threats, Vandalism, and Weapons.  You can choose whether your tip is anonymous or not, you can provide a picture to go alone with your tip, and provide any information you feel will help make your school a better place!  

Photos:  Pulls pictures from any social media post made by SSVT and puts them all into one place.

Sports:  Provides information about SSVT Sports.

Superintendent:  Choose this option to access my blog.

Facebook:  See SSVT's facebook page.

Twitter:  See SSVT's twitter account.

YouTube:  See SSVT's Youtube channel.

Resources:  This section is broken up into 5 categories. You will most often be using the "Parents" link inside of the resources folder.  Some of the links can be accessed elsewhere in the app, but the attempt was to provide a one-stop-shop for you to access anything you might need.  For instance, there's another link to log into PowerSchool, as well as a link to our uniform policy and the "My School Bucks" site where you can add money to your child's lunch account. 

One more swipe left will bring you to the third page.  

My School Bucks:  A link to log into "My School Bucks" to add money to your school lunch account.

Settings: Use the settings icon configure the schools you're following, how you want your alerts to behave, select your language, and rate the app.

Engineering Academy Students to Benefit from $133,000 Grant

Hello SSVT Community,

Running vocational programs requires current technology and equipment and adequate supplies to give students the best experiences possible for the short time they are in high school.

Due to budget limitations, SSVT often looks for grant opportunities.  Grants provide funds from outside sources, allowing schools to grow and modernize.  It is not easy to get grant money because there are typically many schools and organizations who compete for this money.

I think this is important to share because it underscores our excitement when we learned that SSVT was awarded a $133,000 Massachusetts Life Sciences Award from the Mass Life Sciences Center.  Here is a full copy of a press release issued from SSVT on the grant award.

The students who will benefit from the grant are our Engineering Academy students. The Engineering Academy includes students in Precision Machine Technology, Drafting and Electronics.

Congratulations to Electronics instructor Mr. Barba for writing the grant.  It was a lot of work!

Below is the write-up and picture from the January 18, 2015 issue of the  Boston Globe South section.

"The South Shore Vocational Technical High School in Hanover has received a $133,000 grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, an organization dedicated to supporting innovation in the life sciences in Massachusetts. Administrators at the school announced that they plan to use the money to jump-start the school’s 11th- and 12th-grade engineering curriculums and to introduce students to real-world prototype manufacturing processes. “It’s going to allow us to expand our shop and to buy equipment to teach students premanufacturing processes,” Vincent Barba, the school’s electronics department head, said of the grant. He said he also hopes to expand the school’s relationship with electronics companies, which provide excess and obsolete components for the students to work with.

Electronics students Brittany Ceurvels, Nathan Tavares, Richie Lobo, and Madeline Long,
with instructor Mr. Johnson

This extra effort helps to keep our technical programs on the cutting edge!

---Mr. Hickey

Congratulations to Cosmetology Students Passing Their State Board Tests

Hello SSVT Community,

One of the career activities that makes SSVT unique is that our students can earn third party industry credentials during their high school years, thus making them more marketable when searching for jobs, and accelerating their path up the career ladder of their choice.  Our Cosmetology students are allowed to take the State Cosmetology Board Exam once they have accrued enough hours of practice and theory.  

We are thrilled to congratulate Alicia St. Amour, Taylor McCarthy, Samantha Swanson, Alison Wamness, Alysia Caparotta, Nick Bunker, Morgan Reardon and Michelle Long for achieving this goal!  

Our Cosmetology instructors did a great job celebrating their students' accomplishments by putting together a display on the bulletin board outside the CM shop.  Check it out!  

Congratulations!

--Mr. Hickey

Concession Stand Update

Hello SSVT Community,

Last week, on Tuesday, the thermometer read 18 degrees and our Carpentry seniors were out in the elements making steady progress on the concession stand.  Here are a few photos.  The posts you see in front of the concession stand will support the overhang of the concession stand roof.

CP Seniors Brandon Teixeira and Anthony Spicuzza
with CP instructor Mr. Burke (Back Left)

CP Senior Dominic Varrasso is up on staging
working to cover the plywood seams

The CP students learn how to work in these weather conditions and continue to make great strides for this on campus project. Great work!


---Mr. Hickey

HVAC-R Program Earns Department of Public Safety Approval

Hello SSVT Community,

Earlier this year, our HVAC-R program was visited by officials from the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety (DPS), the agency that oversees oil burner and refrigeration licensure.

As a result of the DPS visit and review of our HVAC-R program curriculum, the DPS has approved our HVAC-R program. This means that students who complete the rigorous course of student and who wish to pursue further training can earn hours toward their oil burner and refrigeration license, which is a logical next step for our HVAC-R graduates.

The specific components of the program approval are:

Shop/Work Experience
Practical Piping Work	140 hours
Practical Electrical Work	140 hours
Practical Sheet Metal Work	100 hours
Practical Refrigeration & A/C  Work	700 hours
Practical Heating (Gas & Oil) Work	270 hours
Classroom/Educational Theory Experience
Massachusetts Electrical Code Training	100 hours
ASHRAE Refrigeration Code	180 hours
Sheet Metal Calculation & Design	30 hours
ASHRAE Air Conditioning & Heating	140 hours

During these hours of instruction, our HVAC students get considerable hands on practice and related theory.  It goes without saying that, in order to earn these hours, students need to maintain excellent attendance and demonstrate achievement in the program curriculum!

For HVAC-R graduates, this is just another opportunity that awaits them when they enter the workforce and seek to advance themselves in their chosen field.

---Mr. Hickey

Community College Articulation Agreements Offer SSVT Students College Credit for High School Work!

Hello SSVT Community,

For several years, vocational students have been allowed to use their high school vocational credits at Massachusetts community colleges to count for college credit as well.  It only makes sense for a vocational high school graduate to skip over the introductory courses that have been mastered in high school, and allow the student to save some money and continue to be challenged in post-secondary studies.

A few years back, the state community colleges made this process much more efficient by establishing statewide articulation agreements for students who graduate from particular vocational programs.

So for instance, an agreement that applies to HVAC-R would cover our HVAC-R students who wish to attend Massasoit and any other community college in MA that offers a HVAC-R program.

In November 2014, the state community colleges agreed to a new slate of articulation agreements in Hospitality Management; Business Technology; Health Assisting; Medical Assisting, Carpentry, HVAC-R and Machine Tool Technology.  

At SSVT these new agreements would apply to students in Allied Health, Carpentry, HVAC and PMT.

When coupled with the previously existing articulation agreements from a few years back, it means SSVT graduates will have an opportunity to access articulated community college credits if they are majoring in:

Allied Health

Automotive

Carpentry

CIT

Culinary

Drafting

HVAC-R 

PMT

I would urge students to evaluate their options with their parents and their guidance counselors.  This might be a worthwhile option and a part of your career plan.  

For more information, take a look at the links below:

Here is the link to the Mass Community College website:  

On this page there is a checklist showing what our students would need to do if they wanted to pursue this option.  

Good luck!

---Mr. Hickey