 Welcome to the 2019-2020 Randolph Technical Career Center recognition night. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your patience while it's parking. Sorry about the heat wave. And you should be able to now turn into AM 1320 for one honk. Yes. Awesome. And then FM 100.2. Anybody. Good enough. Awesome. Welcome back. It's been such a nice evening already just seeing you come into the parking lot. We haven't seen you since March. And thank you for coming. So before we begin, just a few house cleaning notes. As you are doing a great job already honking, that's the way we will acknowledge and celebrate students and staff tonight. So please feel free to do short honk bursts whenever you feel like it. Awesome. Please stay in your cars for the entire evening. We really don't want anyone to get hurt as you leave. Please when you come into a six feet distance of somebody, please put a mask on. It's not only your health we're worried about, but someone else's health. And please take your time exiting for a nice slow departure. You don't want any fender benders. Welcome friends, family, staff, teachers and students, parents. Welcome RTCC teachers, support staff, Ms. Joles, Mr. Finley, Colin and Mr. Abadi. At this point, even though the staff were all scattered throughout this event, we'd like them to stand up and wave. And if anyone is in a car this evening by chance, could you please give a honk and say thank you to all our staff. Thank you to this team for your flexibility, dedication and ensuring that our education didn't stop during these unprecedented times. Thank you for your commitment to our students, to the support you showed for one another and our communities. Thank these people for their contribution to recognition night. Without their help and support, this event could not have been possible. Lisa Jacobs, Kelly Hutchinson, Linda Bowell, Jennifer Joles, Jason Finley, Howard Bowell, Brenda Caswell, who did all those wonderful Facebook senior post videos, Vermont Technical College and Orca Media and Carlos Diaz. Thank you very much everybody. Please honk one more time. I'd also like to recognize OSSD Superintendent, Lane Millington, and welcome all the community members and friends and family who are here to celebrate with us. Thank you for all your work and support throughout the year. At this time, we'd like Ethan Newtson to come up to the stage please. How far away he comes, a little further back. PW Plastics this summer is headed to the Vermont Army National Guard. He's going to lead us in the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance. So if you could please take at least take your hats off, put your hands over your heart, and Ethan will come to the stage, the flags right here towards me in the front. Thank you. Ethan. Pleasure to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Please rise and celebrate the accomplishments of our students. We thank you parents, guardians, and community members for allowing us to share in their education and their decision to come to Randolph Technical Career Center. As I am often reminded, RTCC is more than a school and an education. It's an extended family and home away from home. And we saw direct evidence of this of our family bond during these unprecedented times. Today, we get to celebrate our family members moving on to better and greater places. Randolph Technical Career Center's mission is to provide students with challenging academic and technical education in a supportive, engaging, and respectful environment. Students learn the skills to be responsible, productive citizens who are able to take advantage of their education and career opportunities. Now, before I go any further, I want to tell you a really short story. It begins on March 13th, last in-person day of school. And since then, I have this suspicion that many of us have been watching a lot of videos, you know, internet, YouTube, Netflix, and I think this is called binge-watching. I'm really old and I'm not sure. I happen to be watching a documentary about baseball, Go Yankees, and there was this segment about the Great Depression and how a set of baseball players became heroes and uplifted our country. And I thought about this, how those baseball players gave us hope at that time. And it occurred to me that we needed hope at this time. The car next to you, look at the people outside and around you. And if you think about it, the students you see today are the ones that give us hope. They have given me hope during this time. They give me positive feelings and encouragement because they are the ones who will persevere and have persevered through this pandemic and take us into the future. You see students, you could have given up during this time, but you didn't. You quit or become discouraged, but you didn't. Instead, Adam Messier, wherever you are out there, you sewed masks. And Eliza Lamsom and Amber S, you worked as essential workers with old people. And Tim Ginny and Alexis, you were also essential workers. And others of you excelled academically during this remote time. Jacob Lewis, Ashley Brown and Jolene. Again, we're essential workers. And we thank you for keeping us going, not only out in our communities, but out in our spirit. You see, I don't think you're the Y, Z or X generation. I think you're the generation of hope. Because in your infancy, you experienced 9-11. Currently, you are living through a pandemic. And you will take us out of this economic downturn because you are intelligent. You have skills. Originally, I wrote mad skills, but then I took it out. Certifications, experience, and education to move us forward in life. I say skills because you took advantage of the opportunities presented to you this year. Because even if the year ended differently, you took advantage of your time at the Career Center. Tonight, you are all recognized for your effort and achievement of the opportunities you've completed. You've made TCC just one door to go through to your next opportunity. I'd like to acknowledge some of the opportunities you took advantage of this year. And as I call them off, if you could give a short honk, we would appreciate it. If you took a dual enrollment or concurrent enrollment college course this year, please honk. If you did a job shadow, internship, work-based learning, or co-op, please honk. As a center, we earned over 500 industry-recognized certificates to place you ahead of the competition. If you earned any certificate this year, please honk. We also worked really hard to make sure you were provided the best academic opportunities in the region. And because we value Mr. Poindexter, Ms. Beattie, Mr. Avadi, Ms. Lawrence, and Graham, we would like you to honk for them, please. High honors, please give yourself a honk. How about technical excellence, honk. National Honor Society, honk. You see, we all work hard to plan that every student leads with an idea for their future. And if you're going to college or a certificate program, please give yourself a honk. Right into the workforce, job ready, day one, please give yourself a honk. As you go forward, please continue to make the most of your future and be lifelong learners. We'd like to celebrate our accomplishments. We participated in over 8,000 hours of work-based learning, valuable on-the-job experience. Many of these placements have turned into jobs for our students. In a shortened year, we had over 77 community members and business partners, guest speakers, share our college and career lab opportunities with our students. Students, in turn, have networked with guest speakers and have used these as entry points into job shadows, internships, and great high-paying high-growth jobs. At White River Toyota, Capital City GMC, GW Plastics, Brookfield Service, OnePull and Randolph, the Vermont National Guard, Orange County Parent Center, and many, many more. We also pride ourselves on community service at the Career Center, and we have over 2,000 hours. And at one point, we would also like to acknowledge Mr. Lyman and the diesel students for their contribution to the Food for Thought campaign, as they consistently package bags of food each month to go home for our students. Our students help raise the funding necessary to send home 130 bags of food to each of their fellow students every last Friday of the month. Thank you very much. Forty-two students participated in earned dual-enrollment college credits. Twenty-four students were recognized this year for earning technical excellence. Thirty-three of you were introduced, inducted, into the National Technical Honor Society. This year, like any other year, was a journey. Some of you will be returning next year to continue in a program, and others are headed off to college, the Armed Forces, or Career 120 placements. I congratulate you all on your excellent work. And you see, in life, you get to decide your one or two things. You either get to build your dream, or you build someone else's. You spend your time, energy, and passion chasing down what matters to you, or you get to chase it down for someone else, and you get to decide what you'd like to do. However, your journey has best begun. You get to go out and become experts in your field, go on and be productive citizens, and take your skills to the next level. Yesterday you were learning the basics of your career field, and tonight you're celebrated for your accomplishments. And tomorrow we'll miss you. Before this next speaker comes up, we would like to thank him for his mentorship and support of the Career Center, his countless hours in service to our community, and his commitment to education and our students. Would Mr. Lane Millington please come up, and we give him our thanks, please. I think we're working here. Well, good evening and welcome. I can tell that tonight is a very special evening, because after an extended period of time of working from home and remote learning, we're all here, most of us are actually wearing pants and shoes, and for the first time in months, I was even able to get my hair cut for tonight. I had to do it myself, of course, with our dog's clippers, but he didn't seem to mind, and I think I did a pretty passable job overall. My point is, is that this year did not go exactly as planned, not by a long shot. Students, I know you'll hear this a lot tonight, but it is important to say, this is not the way we wanted your year to go. So I'm grateful that at the very least, we're here together on this beautiful evening. And that is something. We're here to celebrate the many ways you have excelled despite this adversity, and that is something more. So I say welcome, and it is truly my privilege to be with you tonight to recognize the results of your dedication and hard work, and to honor you for your achievements. As for the class of 2020, our best wishes go with you as you enter an uncertain world, a world that most assuredly will be made better by your presence and influence. Parents, friends, and family, please give these students a round of honks. Now Jason, come up here for a second. Since this is a recognition night, there is something important we need to do to kick things off. I hold in my hand a diploma. It is given to someone as a symbol of accomplishment. It means you've made the grade, you've met the standards, you've done a tremendously good job. It's a sign of appreciation and it signifies the end of one journey in the start of another. This particular diploma is for Jason, our technical director. And it is the highest honor this district can give to someone who has served it so well. Jason, we thank you for your good works on behalf of our district and wish you well in the future that will come. Each year for the generosity of our local businesses, our community groups, and individuals, as well as RTCC programs from across the center who make student recipients of scholarships and awards possible. This year, local community partners are recognizing Randolph Technical Career Center students with almost $40,000 in awards and scholarships, and that's actually what we knew when we started this program, that our knowledge in your program yearbook we handed out. Reminder, students, please take the time to write a thank you note to these generous community partners, and in your packets you will see that we set you up with a blank thank you note and envelope all ready to go. I would now like to introduce Mr. Jim Poindexter, who will lead us in celebrating our programs. Students, we will call you out by program. Please come to my left side of the stage by Mr. Finley. Please stand six feet apart wearing your mask, and we will call you up one at a time. If advanced manufacturing and automotive technology could make their way to the stage area. Can you wait it out of your camera? John Blaisdale, technology program. Carson Korobu programs can make their way to the stage, please. Would the criminal justice group also make their way to the stage, please? In the culinary arts, Joshua Burkey, one student speaker, come to the stage. Please welcome with enthusiastic honks, Jayden Kinney. Possible for us. So, thank you. My name is Jayden Kinney, and I'm a student and a senior at RTCC. Some of you will remember many of the things that I say. Seeing sports and celebrations in and out of school has been enough to make this a terrible year. But many of us are dealing with a severe type of loss. Jenna Townsend's life was cut short. There are so many things that I want to say about her, but I think we end up being here. She was so dedicated, never seen. But I do see it in some of the other female students in the ag program. The thing about Jenna is that if you didn't see her in car hearts in a baseball hat, she must have taken the day off, too. Even thinking about it now, it makes me smile. Across the following quote, by 13th century poet Rummy. Grief, passion. If you keep your heart open through everything, your life search for love and wisdom. So do my fellow seniors. We missed out on a lot this year. No final year of sports, no senior parents getting to really bug your instructor. We can lose these things, material and experiences, but we know we experience with them. So instead of us and how much we've lost, relationships we still have and the relationships that we will never forget. Our job now is to keep those memories, whether they are here with us or not. There are times of sadness, but also remember all the joy they brought you and protect that joy to everyone else, even when it may seem most difficult to do so. By making ones and tell them stories so that they can out the person as well and the positive impact they left in our lives. So what I ask is that we try to keep our heads high and our spirits even have the theme song. We're all on this ride together, so we might as well make the most of it. Thank you. Protect your diversified agriculture. Please come to the stage. Introduce the construction, trades and management program. Beginning with Zachary Bingham. Come to the stage. Morgan Hodgden. Introduce the digital filmmaking Bryce Stride. Their way to the stage please. Stage as well please. Cation training program. Victoria Bonsignore. This is Aisham. Could you walk a little slower please? This is our health careers program beginning with Grace Townsend. Joseph Warner. Not quite done though. At this time we would like to recognize students who have been awarded by their program and structure for their contributions this year. For the director's choice awards, we'd like to ask these students to come back up please. These students have excelled in their programs, represented. RTCC is positive role models and have been leaders in their programs. So if Bryce Stride, Ainsley Cook, Theodora Driscoll, Amber Sivany, R.J. LaCasse and Aleister Wigglesworth can come back up please. And if we can give honks to them. We'd also like to recognize these two students. For being an outstanding student in mathematics. Hunter Buck, please come on up. And an outstanding student in personal finance. Paige Wolfe, please come to the stage. These last awards given this year, these are given to students who excelled beyond all others in their technical program. Each program has identified one student who has demonstrated the ambition and effort to make the most of their education. Please come to the stage, one called. For advanced manufacturing. John Blaisdale, technology. Carson Kauravu, criminal justice. Marcus Flurry in construction trades management. Tristan Covey, Jacob Dufresne. Chris Winters, education technology. I'm sorry, education services. Megan Dow, digital film. Bryce Stride, even though she's not here this evening. Keanu Manning. Present to you the 2019-2020 outstanding students of the year. With a few choice words from one of our students. As they reflected on COVID-19 and their time physically away from RTCC. And I think Josh Thresser said it best when he said, the biggest thing to remember during this time is that you just got to roll with it and do your best to stay healthy and it will pass. Congratulations to all of you. Thank you for joining us this evening. Thank you for recognizing our students. We wish you the best in health over the next few weeks, months, and have a great summer. Please drive safely on your way homes and be healthy. Thank you all.