Seven Valleys New Tech Academy Celebrates its Grand Opening

Our second New Tech school is officially open! Called Seven Valleys New Tech Academy, this cutting edge high school at 240 Watson St. in Cortland celebrated its GRAND OPENING and ribbon cutting this morning (9/12) with more than 60 guests that included local and state lawmakers, local school superintendents and administrators, guidance counselors, students, teachers, OCM BOCES trainers, local business leaders, parents and more. The school opened this year with 43 students and eight staff members.

Seven Valleys embodies a national New Tech movement that now includes 128 high schools in more than 25 states across the country. Two years ago, in 2014, OCM BOCES opened its first New Tech high school in Liverpool, called Innovation Tech.

With a history that began two decades ago in Napa Valley, Calif., Seven Valleys New Tech Academy, like other New Tech schools, focuses on four design pillars: outcomes that matter, teaching that engages, culture that empowers and technology that enables.
 
Students work collaboratively, use technology on a regular basis, become self-directed learners and focus on projects that often involve connecting with local businesses to produce relevant, real-world results.
 
In its 2016 Annual Outcomes Report, the New Tech Network reported positive gains since 2010, when 10 New Tech schools first reported graduation data.
Among their findings:

• Students in New Tech schools grew 61% more in higher thinking skills between their freshman and junior years than a comparison group.
• Students graduate from high school at a rate that is 9 percentage points greater than the national average.
• They enroll in college at a rate of 70%.
• They persist in four-year colleges at a rate of 92% and in two-year colleges at a rate of 72%.

Speakers on Monday included OCM BOCES Superintendent Dr. Jody Manning, state Sen. James L. Seward, Gary VanGorder of the Cortland County Business Development Corp. and 9th grader Heather Decker.
Thank you to everyone who attended our event and helped us begin this new journey!

Find more pictures on our OCM BOCES FACEBOOK page -- and LIKE us while you're there!

Click here to check out the Time Warner Cable News coverage of the grand opening with more information about Seven Valleys.
Click here to check out the coverage on WRVO.