Career and Technical Education Awards
Damiano Mastrandrea (center), the CTE coordinator at the Brooklyn STEAM Center, shows off the UFT Special Recognition Award he received from Jade Grieves (right), chief of the city DOE’s Student Pathways, and Leo Gordon, the UFT vice president for CTE and event emcee. Mastrandrea also received a CompTIA award.
Career and technical education is about more than just teaching young people a skill set; it is a means of giving them a look at the future and empowering them to make change in their lives.
That’s how Leo Gordon, the UFT vice president for career and technical education, described the calling that drives CTE educators’ work. Meeting the COVID-19 pandemic’s challenges ultimately strengthened CTE programs and helped build resilience, he told about 450 educators, family members and community partners at the annual CTE celebration on Feb. 3 at UFT headquarters in Manhattan.
“Keep in mind there are programs we have that are the answer to decades of poverty in some cases,” he said. “They are the answer to true employment for most of our students. They are the answers that parents in some cases never had.”
The UFT gave out 85 awards to educators and community partners at the event, whose theme was “Rebirth and New Beginnings.” UFT President Michael Mulgrew reminded attendees that New York City CTE educators have a lot to be proud of — from the highest graduation rate and the highest college readiness ratings among New York City students to sending the most students on to college and having the greatest success in closing the achievement gap.
“As I tell everyone, wherever I go, the career and technical education programs in New York City are something that the entire United States should be proud of,” Mulgrew said. “It doesn’t matter what challenges are before us, it doesn’t matter what support we don’t get, we always figure it out and make it work.”
Andrew Bencsko III, who has taught graphic design at the HS of Art and Design in Manhattan for 15 years, agreed that teaching CTE is a “calling.” He received an industry award from G-Factor Films this year. “I’ve had jobs, and I’ve had careers,” he said. “This is a calling.”
Margaret Monte-Leon, a computer science teacher at Tottenville HS on Staten Island, said she was honored and humbled to receive a UFT award. “There are a lot of extraordinary teachers in this school,” she said.
Tottenville has doubled the size of its computer science CTE sequence in response to demand, and it plans to add more computer science courses. Monte-Leon’s classes are hands-on, with students jumping right into assignments like designing their own Whac-A-Mole game. “The students see that there’s a real career path in what they’re doing. Plus, it’s fun,” she said.
Monte-Leon, the faculty adviser to the school’s Girls Who Code club, said the CTE track “is very much male dominated, so we’re trying very hard to recruit more girls.”
Luis Rojas, a computer technology teacher in his fourth year at Westinghouse Vocational HS in Brooklyn, was surprised to learn he was being honored with a UFT award. “I still feel like I haven’t earned it yet,” he said.
Rojas graduated from Westinghouse with a certificate in electronics. He then worked as a copier technician, an application engineer and finally a systems engineer in the technology field before earning a college degree in technology. Since high school, he had wanted to “give back” to Westinghouse. Now he’s helping build its IT Support program.
Rojas said the thing he loves most about teaching is the kids, who can be challenging but also make him laugh. He tells them that all the foundational skills IT Support students learn provide them with a lot of opportunities because “there’s not one business that IT doesn’t touch.”
Anthony Pigis, a tech education teacher in his third year at Hillcrest HS in Jamaica, Queens, said he brings his experience as a software developer to his teaching. When a developer gets a project assigned from a client, there is a lot of planning and organization involved, he said. Aspiring software developers must learn to anticipate and program around potential problems, and “think two steps ahead” in their work.
“I was in the industry, so I know the difficulties of the industry and the challenging moments,” said Pigis, who won a UFT award.
Cherry-Ann Ferguson was honored for her accomplishments as a work-based learning coordinator at the School for Cooperative Technical Education, which has multiple locations in the city. The best part of the job, she said, is the look on students’ faces when “they get a job and they come in and say, ‘This has changed my life.’ ”
2023 UFT CTE Awards Recognition Ceremony
CTE Partnership Awards
Stanley Schair CTE Teacher and Work-Based Coordinator for Excellence and Innovation Award
- Arlene Ramos, Hs Of Health Professions And Human Services
- Nicole Zagada, Queens Technical Hs
CTE Partner of the Year Award
- Pete Malinowski, Executive Director, Billion Oysters Project
UFT Special Recognition Awards
UFT Edwin Espaillat Award
- Miguel Puello, Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education HS
- Jaelan Scott, Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Education HS
UFT Legacy Award
- Dwight Threepersons, CTE leader and co-creator of Success Via Apprenticeship program
Special Recognition Awards
- Damiano Mastrandrea, Brooklyn STEAM Center
- Tanya Navas, DOE Director of Program Quality, Career and Technical Education
- Debra Sinodinos, Manager, Business Development/Member Relations, Municipal Credit Union
CTE Industry & UFT CTE Educators Awards
G-FACTOR FILMS
- Andrew Bencsko III, Art and Design HS
- Praya Jafar, Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Education HS
- Everett Kelley, George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education HS
- Dennis O’Connell, Ralph R. McKee Career and Technical Education HS
- Scott Pagan, Bronx Design and Construction Academy
Municipal Credit Union Award
- Jennifer Cruz, Brooklyn STEAM Center
- Jessica Ferrara, Queens Technical HS
Queens
UFT CTE Awards Honorees
- Usman Ahmed, HS for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture
- Jilaine Cagen, Queens Technical HS
- Elvyn Perez, Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Education HS
- Anthony Pigis, Hillcrest HS
- Toni-Marie Powers, Cambria Heights Academy
- Elizabeth Shock, Pathways to Graduation
- Vincent Tobia, Flushing HS
- Michael Vander Putten, Information Technology HS
- Arelis Vizoso, Bayside HS
- Lynda Weinstein, John Bowne HS
Tribute to Michael Mayo
Presented by his wife, Stefanie Mayo
Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association Foundation Award
- Jennifer Brogan, Susan E. Wagner HS
- Ferrin Bujan, Brooklyn Community & Media HS
C-Tech Business and Education Partnership Award
- Peter Beninati, Queens Technical HS
- Anthony Comptiello, William E. Grady Career and Technical Education HS
Brooklyn
UFT CTE Awards Honorees
- Azikiwe Aboagye, A-Tech HS
- Ceren Brunell, The Boerum Hill School for International Studies
- Joshua Cato, The HS for Enterprise, Business and Technology
- Kelynne Edmond-Oristel, Clara Barton HS
- Nathan Exantus, Brooklyn STEAM Center
- Stephen Hudson, Boys and Girls HS
- Stella Inserra, Life Academy HS for Film and Music
- Brenda Langford-Freso, The Urban Assembly School for Collaborative Healthcare
- Carissa Lei, Brooklyn Studio Secondary School
- Joshua Levine, New Utrecht HS
- Arben Miftari, HS for Innovation in Advertising and Media
- Pia Moos, Williamsburg HS for Architecture and Design
- Patricia Paulino, W.H. Maxwell Career and Technical Education HS
- Thomas Price, Brooklyn Technical HS
- Rajene Roberts, Academy of Hospitality and Tourism
- Luis Rojas, George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education HS
- Madeline Velazquez, Spring Creek Community School
- Jeron Walker, Science, Technology and Research Early College HS at Erasmus
- Gena Zaiderman, Edward R. Murrow HS
CompTIA Awards
- Maria Jamil, Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology
- Damiano Mastrandrea, Brooklyn STEAM Center
- Adrian Sookchan, Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology
Virtual Enterprises International Awards
- Robyn Bryant, Clara Barton HS
- Marcia Hunter-Innis, In-Tech Academy (MS/HS 368)
Staten Island
UFT CTE Awards Honorees
- Matthew Habib, Susan E. Wagner HS
- Sharon Keck, Port Richmond HS
- Danielle Mayer, New Dorp HS
- Margaret Monte-Leon, Tottenville HS
The Edward J. Malloy Initiative for Construction Skills, Inc.
- Cherry-Ann Ferguson, School of Co-op Tech Education
- Angel Texidor, HS for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture
CISCO
- Jessie Kalloo, Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Education HS
Bronx
UFT CTE Awards Honorees
- Fabiola Cadet Tropnas, HS of World Cultures
- Sumon Das, Bronxdale HS
- Marvis Grant, Bronx Aerospace HS
- Marcia Hunter-Innis, In-Tech Academy (MS/HS 368)
- Kimberly Smith, H.E.R.O. High (Health, Education, and Research Occupations HS)
- Vanessa Spiegel, Bronx International HS
- Ivonne Tejada Cruel, Crotona International HS
Transportation Diversity Council Award
- Andrew Gilmore, Bronx Design and Construction Academy
- Denise Montes, Bronx Design and Construction Academy
Technology in Schools Initiative
- Dana Kirton, Fairmont Neighborhood School
- Amanda Sulflow, Fairmont Neighborhood School
The National Academy Foundation Award
- Lorena Izzo, Academy of Finance and Enterprise
- Aristides Lourdas, HS of Economics and Finance
Manhattan
UFT CTE Awards Honorees
- Ionia Dunn Lee Cisse, The HS of Fashion Industries
- Samantha Elkaim, The Urban Assembly School for Emergency Management
- Matt Lassen, HS of Art and Design
- Donna Longo, School for Cooperative Technical Education
- Christopher Sedita, The Urban Assembly School for Green Careers
- Tiffany Simon, The Maxine Greene HS for Imaginative Inquiry
- Federico Zegarra, Stephen T. Mather Building Arts & Craftsmanship HS
- Ibroxim Zokirov, Union Square Academy for Health Services