Tech Valley High graduates first class

They entered the school as wide-eyed freshmen and graduated June 18 as education reform pioneers.

Tech Valley High School’s first graduating class marked the completion of their four years June 18 with a ceremony that included dozens of dignitaries, a speech by leading nanotechnology expert Dr. Alain Kaloyeros, laughs, tears and accolades from business leaders.

Owing to the global nature of the school – which teaches 21st century skills through project-based learning — the 28 graduates were led into the ceremony by bagpipers and drummers playing traditional Irish tunes and were serenaded at the close of the ceremony by a traditional Chinese song – Jasmine Flowers — sung by underclassmen under the direction of Mandarin Chinese teacher Diana Lim.

Even the commencement address by Kaloyeros, senior vice president and chief executive officer of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany, was befitting a school that bends the norms of education, mixing the traditional praises and encouragement with humor and technology.

“You must adapt to lifelong learning and your education at Tech Valley has prepared you to be very successful,” Kaloyeros told the graduates in a speech that included videos of Ozzy Osbourne, dancing monkeys, and marching bands in a football half-time show.

Noting the escalating speed with which societal norms change, Kaloyeros said it took the car 55 years from its invention to penetrate the marketplace, the Internet seven years, and the iPod five years.

“The job market today: Be educated or die,” he said. “We are producing about 20 percent more with about 30 percent less workforce. The U.S. economy is constantly moving upscale…focused on the high-tech as low-tech moves overseas,” said Kaloyeros.

“You must adapt to lifelong learning (to succeed) and your education at Tech Valley has prepared you to be very successful,” he added. “You have what it takes to interact and the brain power… use them to pursue lifelong education to excel.”

Graduate Leilani Yasutake, from Germantown, reflected on the four years of changes she and fellow classmates have experienced at TVHS.

“We have gained so many skills and we have done it together, like speaking to large groups of people, like using advanced technology and working with business people,” Yasutake said.

Many of the speakers reflected on the years of work and the pioneering mission of the students and those who have built the school from an idea to its first graduating class.

“You students were the experiment that proved to work for us and so many other schools,” said Capital Region BOCES District Superintendent Charles Dedrick.

His counterpart at Questar III James Baldwin and former Capital Region BOCES District Superintendent Barbara Nagler, the founders of the school, said the work of all involved, including this first graduating class, is leading to a better education system.

“You have made us the focus of educational reformers from throughout the state, throughout the country and all the way across the globe to China,” Baldwin said.

Nagler added, “You are pioneers in the frontier of this new vision of education.”

TVHS Operating Board President Paul Puccio noted the number of visitors – 500 – from across the country and world that have come through the school in the last year to see the work of the students.

“People from across the world have been through Tech Valley High and you have been their teachers,” he said.

Of the 28 graduates, 26 plan to attend college in the fall while two are entering military service.

While some grapple to determine what they want to do for careers, they have a head-start in the decision making process that most students could only dream about.

That’s because the TVHS graduates have spent hundreds of hours working hand-in-hand with business leaders, scientists, researchers and the leaders of emerging technologies in “real world," lab and classroom settings. They have learned how to communicate professionally with adults with no preparation; they have developed collaboration skills on a level typically seen in colleges and they have learned self-direction skills that will ensure their success in the workforce.

“TVHS has helped me develop skills beyond just being taught for a test. I have gained skills in communicating, public speaking, and self direction that I would not have gained otherwise,” said Josh McDonald, who attended TVHS from Troy and will pursue a degree at Siena College.

“The best thing about Tech Valley is that it can be what you need it to be,” said Rose Biggerstaff, who attended TVHS from Bethlehem. “Not everyone learns the same way; you take the structure and mold it into something you can use.”