More than 1,500 high school juniors and seniors are getting a jump-start on their professional careers this school year through the BOCES Career and Technical Education (CTE) Center.
The 2025-26 school year opened on Sept. 4 with 1,500-plus students hailing from six counties across the Capital Region who are enrolled in programs as diverse as Welding and Metal Fabrication, Game Design and Implementation and Cosmetology.
A testament to the growing popularity of Capital Region BOCES CTE programming is the opening of the CTE Extension Center at 886 Watervliet-Shaker Road in Albany.
Located across from the Albany CTE campus, the center is home to two new programs—New Visions: Emerging Technologies and Plumbing Technology—and six expanded ones. Those include the Heavy Equipment Repair and Operation (HERO) program, which previously had only been offered at the Schoharie Career and Technical Education Center. Also being offered at the Extension Center is increased classroom spaces for the Electrical Trades, Building Trades, Cosmetology, Manufacturing and Machining Technology and Digital Media Design programs.
The center’s opening allows for an additional 210 students to receive a CTE education this school year.
“This is an exciting time,” said Jeff Palmer, Director of Career and Technical Education at Capital Region BOCES. “We are seeing a change in the national attitude towards the skilled trades, and that is reflected in our enrollment, which has steadily risen in the last couple of years.”
Still, more than 100 students were on a waitlist this summer to enter one of 14 different programs at the Career and Technical Education Center.
“The word is out, and people are realizing that you don’t necessarily have to go to college to have a lucrative career. Good-paying jobs with benefits can be had in trades like welding, construction, engine repair and more,” said Nancy Liddle, Capital Region BOCES Managing Program Coordinator-Business & Community Partnerships.
Students said they are eager to learn professional skills and earn certifications that will give them a head-start on their careers. 
“I am excited to be able to help people with a medical career,” said Yessenia Cooper, a junior from Cohoes enrolled in the Two-Year Sequence of Health Careers program. “This has been a dream of mine.”
Building Trades senior Macord Stevens said his junior year at BOCES laid a good foundation for future success and now he is ready to build on those skills.
“I am looking forward to learning how to make my own house and how to wire it and do things that are useful for myself,” the Sharon Springs scholar said.
Senior Marcus Merwin is one of 40 students enrolled in the new Plumbing Technology program.
“I am excited to learn how to plumb so I can start my own business. There is good money in it, and I have seen so many houses that have problems with plumbing,” said Merwin, who attends CTE from Cobleskill-Richmondville.