Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School senior Megan Emerich has a clear goal in life and chose Capital Region BOCES to give her future a jolt.
Emerich is in her second year of the Electrical Trades program at Career and Technical Education Center – Albany Campus where she is learning the finer points of electrical work. She chose the program not as a pathway to a career as an electrician, but rather to power-up her knowledge of electricity as she prepares for a career as an electrical engineer.
“Electrical work is a concept I can easily grasp. How it works is something I easily understand and I enjoy working with my hands, so why not?” she said.
The teen said she finds electrical work easy and has been given insights into what the industry entails.
“My brother is an electrical engineer and I want to be one too. BOCES is allowing me to get the basic knowledge down before I go to college,” she said.
Emerich plans to take the skills learned at BOCES to Clarkson University after graduation in June.
For Emerich, being one of only a handful of women students among the more than 100 students enrolled in the Electrical Trades program is not an issue.
She added that she enjoys the atmosphere and learning environment.
“I like that I can work and learn at my own pace at BOCES,” she said, “and that we aren’t just sitting. We are working with our hands while learning.”
Students in the two-year Electrical Trades program learn fundamental skills in electrical theory through classroom instruction and hands-on work. They also learn basic electrical skills and cutting-edge, 21st-century green technologies—all of which prepares them for the in-demand field of electrical trades.
