In preparation for the Feb. 23 Pennsylvania ProStart Invitational being held at The Penn State Conference Center in State College, students from Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School participated in the PA ProStart Culinary Arts Boot Camp hosted by the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Culinary Arts Center, located in Punxsutawney. There will be 13 teams participating in the Feb. 23 competition.

Students attending the boot camp included Treyvon Fitzpatrick, LI-12; Josiah Correa, LI-12; Joslyn Buss, LI-12; Joseph DeDona, FR-12 and Greg Joseph, LI-12.

Students participated in a welcome session, food production, knife cuts, recipe costing, teamwork-professionals and then a final wrap-up. Seven schools participated in the Boot Camp.

Mr. Fortunato secured a PA ProStart grant with the assistance of Hope Sterner, director of education with the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association. The grant assisted with paying for some expenses for the Boot Camp, the textbooks and curriculum materials.

Career and Technical Education (CTE) month is February and the week of Feb. 7-11 is SkillsUSA week. Career and Technical education month promotes public awareness of the concept that our education directly prepares students for high-wage, high-demand careers. CTE covers many different fields, including health care, information technology, advanced manufacturing, hospitality and management, and many more areas.

To highlight these two significant events, the five local career and technical schools which participate in the SkillsUSA Council, under the direction of Andy Hammer and Amy Silvoy, will participate in the ProStart competition. On Feb. 2, 89 students from Bethlehem and numerous students from the other local career and technical schools will be competing at the Sure Stay Plus Hotel Best Western Lehigh Valley and Agricultural Hall in Allentown. The leadership competitions at Best Western are not open to the public. However, we invite you to the Agri-Plex from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to see our talented students compete for the gold. First-place students will continue on to Hershey Lodge for the State Conference April 6.

St. Luke’s University Health Network recently partnered with BAVTS. Students in the Health Careers programs at BAVTS have been hired as PCAs to help with staffing. As part of the students’ training, they have worked on the various floors: Emergency Department, Cardiac inpatient, Med/Surg inpatient, Acute Rehab Center, and Oncology inpatient.

Students have been involved in moving patients with limited mobility, vital signs, ambulations, answering call bells, and have been engaged in using EPIC for electronic medical records.

Seniors Kelsey Ressler, FR; Jazmine Rodriguez, FR; Chase Hendrickson, FR; Madison Phillips, FR; Allya Walters, LI; Rebecca Taney, FR; Abigail Schreck, NO; and Keyma Poole, FR, are participating in the program.

“We love having students on P9 Oncology. Our team loves engaging with students and helping them grow in the medical field. Students always come in with positive attitudes and the patients see that and appreciate it. Every day staff completes many tasks, but having students reminds us that those tasks are complex and interesting. It truly is fulfilling when you get to teach students,” said Paul Muth BSN, RN, Patient Care Manager PPHP 9, of St. Luke’s University Hospital, Bethlehem.

Brandon Koch, NO-12, and Ethan Woods, FR-12, were both brought on by the hospital as Facilities Engineering Interns recently. So far both groups of students have expressed positive feedback on the experience.