An aspiring animal trainer with a passion for the arts has been named SkillsUSA Student of the Year on the Capital Region BOCES Career & Technical Education Center – Albany Campus.
Nadia Nunn was presented the honor during the Career and Technical Education Center – Albany Campus Awards and Scholarship celebration on June 5. It’s the second year in a row a Schenectady student has received the honor at Capital Region BOCES, which educates students from more than two-dozen school districts. Last year, Building Trades graduate Elijah Edwards earned the accolade.
The SkillsUSA Student of the Year honor is given to the student on each Career and Technical School campus who best exemplifies SkillsUSA by their leadership and service to others, participation in all facets of the organization, and dedication and diligence to their vocation.
Nadia Nunn is completing her second year of the Digital Media Design program at the Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical Education Center.
Though she aspires to a career working with animals, Nunn has an artistic side and is using the Digital Media program to broaden her skills and open new mediums for her to work with.
“The Digital Media program is helping me gain experience and expand my knowledge of the arts. It has allowed me to use a different medium for expressing myself,” she said.
Students in the program learn professional skills in industry standard software while developing a working knowledge of design theory and practice. They also engage in the same project planning and execution processes that are consistent with industry practice and demonstrate their technical abilities through the Adobe Certified Expert program.
For Nunn, this has meant designing logos, posters, shirts and completing other projects with an artistic flair.
“[Digital Media teacher Barb Gorbaty] is incredibly open to ideas and hearing what we have to say. She allows us to express ourselves while we are learning,” Nunn said.
She will attend SUNY Cobleskill next year in pursuit of an animal sciences degree, but also plans to use the skills she has learned in Digital Media Design to earn money and express herself.
“I can see myself doing digital art as a [side] job to make extra money,” she said.
She will also have a SkillsUSA Area III scholarship to put towards her education. Nunn, along with Arianna Rivas, a Game Design and Implementation senior from Mohonasen, are recipients of the scholarships this year.
Gorbaty praised the young scholar as a well-rounded youth.
“Nadia is not only creative and skilled, but she is also community-minded as well. She routinely volunteers to do work on behalf of CTE programs and SkillsUSA. Her passion for animals is often shown in her work that often features them,” she said.
Nunn is one of three dozen students enrolled in the two-year Digital Media Design program.
This is the third in a series of articles on students being honored at the Albany CTE Campus. Follow this link for additional stories.