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| CTE Spotlight Newsletter: November Edition |
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CTE Students at Vision Zero Fleet Forum In January 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio
launched
Vision Zero, a comprehensive plan to improve vehicle and pedestrian safety in New York City. Operators of large private and public fleets are critical players in achieving Vision Zero. As part of this Mayoral initiative, in October 2014 the Department of Citywide Administrative Service (DCAS) convened a daylong forum that bought together over thirty private fleet operators. DCAS, a long-term partner of our career and technical education (CTE) automotive and technology programs, invited schools to participate in this forum. Twenty-five of our high school seniors represented CTE at this forum where they listened to presentations from private fleet operators and learned about cutting edge technologies in safety including telematics and other tracking devices. In addition, students and teachers had an incredible opportunity to network with some of the largest private
fleet companies including Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Fresh Direct. A special acknowledgement goes out to Commissioner Cumberbatch, Deputy Commissioner Kerman, and Mahanth Joishy at DCAS for offering this incredible opportunity to our students and for their continued commitment to our schools. Top Left Photo: Students and teachers from Automotive High School, William E. Grady High School, and Alfred E. Smith High School, along with DCAS Deputy Commissioner Keith Kerman, Mahanth Joishy, and Jamyn Edis the CEO and Founder of DASH Labs. Top Right Photo: Students from William E Grady High School speaking with the team from the NYC Department of Sanitation.
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| CTE Alumni Receives 2014 Building Futures Award and a proclamation from the Office of the Public Advocate. In March 2014, Juan Lopez, CTE alumni from the High School of Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture (HSCTEA), was with his sibling when they witnessed a police cruiser and van
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collide and burst into flames. Immediately responding to this accident, Juan helped to heroically rescue and save four NYPD police officers.
In recognition of his heroic efforts, Juan received the 2014 Building Futures Award sponsored by the Edward J. Malloy Initiative for Construction Skills, and a proclamation from the NYC Office of the Public Advocate.
While at HSCTEA, Juan qualified for the competitive Edward J. Malloy Construction Skills pre-apprenticeship program. Having successfully completed this program, Juan is presently an apprentice steamfitter with the labor union Local 638.
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| Legal Minds in CTE The Justice Resource Center’s NYC MENTOR: Law Firm / High School Partnership Luncheon was held at Fordham Law School on October 8, 2014. Fifty-three law firms attended with their respective school partner. Fordham Law's Moot Court Board
distributed the high school MENTOR Moot Court case at the event. This year's case focuses on the First and Fourth Amendments.
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Participating students will argue mock cases as attorney representatives either for or against a high school student who posted a threat on his Facebook account, and the subsequent search of his home by police. At the MENTOR Partnership Luncheon, the Chief Judge of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals presented his new initiatives on public access to the courts which will include many JRC students. One example is the new Legal Research and Writing seminar hosted by the Thurgood Marshall Law Library, followed by a meeting with Federal Judges. For further information on CTE law programs in NYC, please contact Debra Lesser at dlesser@schools.nyc.gov. Website:
www.jrcnyc.org
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John Rullan: The teacher, the trainer, the leader...
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Half man, half amazing! With over eight industry certifications in computer networking and almost two decades of experience as a CTE teacher, John Rullan is an educator who has evolved over time, and transformed the lives of students. Currently leading the department as CTE Coordinator at Thomas Edison High School in Queens, NY, we sat down the award-winning teacher to talk technology, family, martial arts, and the key to preparing students for college and careers.
SpotLight: Eight industry certifications? Did you always know that you wanted to become a teacher?
John Rullan: I currently have certifications in CTNA, Network +, CCENT, CCNP, Cisco Certified Instructor Trainer, CCNA Certified Instructor, CCNP Certified Instructor, and C-Tech Certified. But it didn’t start out that way. I was born and raised in New York. My father was born
in Puerto Rico. My father was a big influence on me, always wanted me to become a teacher, and my life closely mirrors his. He was a mechanic and was a student at Automotive High School before joining the Army. When he came back, he became a teacher at Automotive High School and later became an Assistant Principal. I actually went to Automotive High School and graduated from there, as did an older brother. I didn’t want go to college at the time because I liked fixing cars. It was sort of like a family thing, it was in the blood. Although eventually when I got older, I got into a car accident and hurt my back. I was sitting at a red light, and a woman ran right into the back of me. As a result I had a couple of herniated discs and I just couldn’t do it anymore. It was hard to bend over cars all day fixing them, so I had to look for another job and my father said,
“This is it! This is your chance to become a teacher.” And that’s what happened.
SpotLight: Did you start off as a computer networking instructor?
John Rullan: I actually started in auto mechanics, although I didn’t teach auto mechanics for long. When I started teaching in 1996, my Principal at the time told me that they were going to close the auto shops throughout the city. There was this new program in 1997 called Cisco Networking and they sent two people from my school to get certified, come back, and turnkey it into NYC schools. I was in the first class to receive the training when they returned. I was initially teaching Cisco and automotive at the same time, but eventually, I started teaching Cisco full-time and have been teaching it since 1998.
I am currently the NYC “Train-the-Trainer”, which means I train
all Cisco instructors who are teachers. I was one of the first Nationally Cisco-certified Instructor Trainers. Moses Ojeda, my Principal, sent me to California for the two-day certification test. There were 4,000 candidates at the time who took the test and only twenty of us passed. At this point, if anyone from a high school or college in the state of New York needs training, I’m one of the very few who is qualified to train them. I also wrote two lab books for Cisco and was a member of their Curriculum Development team.
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SpotLight: You have received some awards from Cisco as well. Can you tell us about that?
John Rullan: At Thomas Edison High School, we have maintained at least a 90% passing rate in Cisco Certifications for over the past ten years, beating out high schools and colleges around the country. Because I have had the most students passing certifications around the country, last year I was one of five teachers in the country selected for the “Most Outstanding Instructor Award.” I was honored to receive one I love doing what I do. However, as a teacher I think the greatest reward is the success of your students. When your students come back to visit after graduation and tell you how much you have changed their life, and that their success is because of you, that’s the reward!
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SpotLight: What comes next after eight certifications and national teaching awards?
John Rullan: I have been the Coordinator of my department for the last couple of years, and now I’m actually finishing up my Masters degree at Fordham University in Educational Leadership. When I graduate in April, my role will change from being a teacher to an administrator. In my school we have 12 CTE programs, which is more than any other school in NYC. We are constantly re-evaluating our programs to keep them updated with industry standards and practices. I think that a lot of schools get too complacent and they teach a curriculum for years and don’t change anything, allowing it to become outdated. My goal is to make every program and every teacher the best teacher that they can possibly be in their respective fields. I already work with great teachers
like Alex Bell who is one of the best in A+, and my Principal Moses Ojeda wants to be the best in everything so he puts pressure on me because he won’t accept second best.
SpotLight: Some parents are unsure if CTE is a good option for their children, how would you respond to that?
John Rullan: I think people misinterpret CTE. The idea is that we are providing these kids with a skill and preparing the future workers, but I think we are also preparing future leaders in these fields. At the same time, we should consider the value of students discovering what they don’t want to do with their lives. For example, in middle school you may have kids say, “I want to be a doctor”. Then in high school they take all these medical classes and say, “this is too much for me.” I think that we provide that service. Students get a chance to
sit back and say this is not what I want to do, maybe I’ll try something else, but it’s better to do it here than in college.
SpotLight: Discovery is always useful for teenagers, but why should a parent think of this as a long-term investment?
John Rullan: I think it’s still a good investment because what a lot of people don’t realize is that CTE teaches students to troubleshoot and diagnose problems in many different types of fields. Whether it is architecture, computers, or automotive, these kids are learning how to think at such a high level that it exceeds what they would learn in a simple math, science or English class. They talk about STEM, but STEM is in every CTE program that we do now. We are making them better thinkers and better analyzers in CTE courses where they learn to interpret data, read flowcharts, and
diagnose things. My students have always come back to tell me that when they go to college the classes were easy, and I ask them how so? They say because you taught me how to think. You gave me scenarios and problems that I had to solve. They would say, “Mr. Rullan I stayed up until 3 o’clock in the morning until I figured it out.” We teach them how to think in CTE.
Years ago, kids that went to automotive programs were unfairly called the “dumb kids.” There are five computers in some of these cars now. You can’t be a “dummy” and fix cars. Do you know probability is required to fix these cars? Some cars have to determine that an accident is occurring three cars in front of you. You have to fix that. How the heck do you fix that? We have to train our kids to think differently.
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SpotLight: Teachers are busy, and you have a lot going on. How do you maintain a work/life balance?
John Rullan: I am a family person. I make time for my five kids, and I have two grand-children. One of my daughters is at the University of Albany and I speak to her all the time, and do my daddy-daughter dates with her all the time. She loves sushi dates and when she gets stressed out, I like to send her the weirdest care packages. Whenever she gets one, she never knows what’s going to be in it. Just recently I sent her one with a bunch of Godiva chocolates, chocolate covered Oreos, chocolate covered macadamias, almost a hundred bucks on Godiva…because she was stressed and she said it was like the best thing. One of the greatest honors I received was from her friends, who said that they voted me “best father”. I also do road
trips with my kids to Florida and Chicago to visit friends and family. I just think it’s important because as you grow older your kids grow up. At least my kids will have all those memories of the things that we did together, so maybe that will help them become better parents when it’s time for them to become parents one day. Life is too short and it goes by too fast, and you sit back one day and say, “My God, I’m 50 years old and I’ve done nothing.”
SpotLight: Let’s shift from the digital world of CTE to the dojo. Is it true you are a martial artist?
John Rullan: Yes, I am a 4th degree black belt. My father has been my karate teacher since I was 8 years old. He is 77 years old, still works out, and is strong and in great shape. I hope when I’m his age, I’m physically fit like him. When I was between 13-18 years
old I used to go and fight in competitions around the country. I was one of the top fighters, competing all over the east coast and Canada. Now, I teach karate to students after school two nights a week at Thomas Edison High School for free. Most of the kids in my class are Special Education students, and the Special Education department is amazed at how they’ve transitioned with their self-esteem, confidence, and coordination.
SpotLight: Their parents must be thrilled. Do you have an opportunity to engage parents?
John Rullan: We have been very involved with parents by offering them CTE classes as well. This year, I’m going to try something a little different. I’m going to do a “Parent Night,” where students will facilitate workshops for their parents to teach them what they are learning in their classes. I’m going
to do a medical assisting class and an AutoCad workshop so parents will come and see the kids. One of the projects we do in our Med Tech programs, is our kids make bridges. They have to design a bridge, then the teacher puts a weight on it and the bridge has to sustain that weight. If not, then it breaks apart. We are going to have the parents come in and let the kids show them. It’s not going to be the teacher teaching, it’s going to be the students.
Last year, when I did my Cisco training for the teachers, I had one student come with her father. They did the CTNA certification training together. What was great about this opportunity is that the father already works in this industry. Now that he has the CTNA certification, hopefully this will help him advance in his career. He did it side by side with his daughter, how great can that be! She was teaching him,
and she received a higher score than the father on the certification exam.
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Stem Mentor Campaign for NYC! Campaign Aims to Recruit 1 Million STEM Women Mentors. When Talmesha Richards graduated with her Ph.D. in cellular and molecular medicine from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine two years ago, she felt a personal obligation to encourage other girls to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering, or math. "I know the power of a mentor. I'm a testimony to it," says the 33-year-old who now works as a director of project partnerships
for STEMconnector, an organization that connects corporations with community organizations to invest in STEM training. Richards can recall mentors as early as 3rd and 8th grades who helped encourage her in math and science. Now, Richards is part of an effort to recruit 1 million STEM mentors to support girls from middle school through career.
The Million Women Mentors campaign is sponsored by more than 70 businesses and organizations,
including
Cisco, Girl
Scouts, the National Girls Collaborative Project and STEMconnector. Women comprise about 48 percent of the U.S. workforce, but just 24 percent are in STEM fields, according to the campaign. The effort started in January and 170,000 professionals have pledged their time so far. Volunteers are asked to give about 20 hours per year to work with a young girl with an interest in studying STEM. Mentors (male and female) receive training and a weekly guide for meeting with students, which occurs outside of school through industry partnerships and community organizations, according to Richards. The campaign hopes to increase the percentage of U.S. high school girls planning to pursue STEM careers, which is currently 13 percent. About 45 percent of STEM degrees are earned by women and students of color, although they make up 75 percent of all college students. The campaign suggests many of
these young women leave STEM degree paths despite their good academic standing, often citing uncomfortable classroom experiences and climate.
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Tweed - Office of Career Technical Education
52 Chambers Street • New York, NY 10007
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