BCIT NEWSLETTER

The 2017-18 school year is officially over!!! This may have been the longest school year ever, as we paid for the numerous snow days from this past winter. Our graduating seniors had a wonderful ceremony to celebrate their accomplishments and their moving into the next stage of their lives. Scroll down and see the pictures from the graduation ceremony.

We are already preparing for the start of another school year as schedules are getting completed and the building is receving its normal summer cleaning.

If you have any scheduling or college planning questions, please email your counselor as they have limited summer hours. Email is always the best form of communication during the summer recess!

The building will be open Monday-Friday 8am-3pm, if you have any need to reach someone at school. I recommend setting up an appointment via email before stopping in to ensure that we can service your concerns.

Have a safe and enjoyable summer break!

Mr. Parker

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Congratulations to this year's Prom King Zaire Carter, Prom Queen Gabriela Berdugo-Hernandez, Prom Prince Jordan Jones and Prom Princess Jayden Jefferson.

Thank you to Ms. Danser and Mr. Van Sciver for putting together an amazing event.

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Isabella was awarded the Voice of Democracy Scholarship from local VFW Post 2692 for her submission into the American History: Our Hope for the Future program.

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Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Theta Pi Omega Chapter $1,500.00

Graduate who is of African-American descent and attending

higher education.

Moniquia Brown

BCIT “Foundation Scholarship” Award $1,000.00

Graduate with good academics, community service, and continuing

his/her education beyond high school.

Lauren Romano

BCSCA 2018 “I Care” High School Award $100.00

Graduate that has shown exceptional caring for the welfare of others.

Noah Knapp

Dakota W. Kilgore Memorial Award $300.00

Graduate planning to continue their education beyond high school.

Jiovanni Pallante

Eric L. Toub Scholarship $500.00

Graduate planning to pursue a technical field and has demonstrated

thoughtfulness to others.

Jacob Greeley

FOP Lodge 56 Scholarship $1,000.00

Graduate that has excelled in the Law & Public Safety career major.

Emily Treesh-Colon

George Murray Jr. Memorial Scholarship $325.00

Graduate that has demonstrated excellence in Art, Advertising and

Design.

Emonii Toplyn-Villinger

Hope Red Cross Scholarship $250.00

Graduate who actively assisted the school run Blood Drive.

Samantha De La Cruz

Investors Bank $500.00

Graduate who is attending a NJ college with financial need

Marquis Payden

Malco Tools “Head of the Class” Award Tool Kit

Student who excelled in his career major of HVAC.

Donovan Destremps & Jason Lin

Marlton Garden Club $1,000.00

Graduate planning to pursue a field of environmental science or

related fields.

Ashley Myers

Medford Township Police Scholarship $1,000.00 Graduate that has excelled in the Law & Public Safety career major.

Sarah Litostansky

Medford – Vincentown Rotary Club $5,000.00

Graduate that has demonstrated academic excellence and a history

of public service.

Timothy Shemeley

Medford – Vincentown Rotary Club $2,500.00

Graduate that has demonstrated academic excellence and a history

of public service.

Jacob Titus

Military Bound “Pep Rally 4 life” $50.00 each

Graduate entering a military career.

Brandon Davis & Salvino Ferraro

Mount Laurel Garden Club $2,000.00

Graduate from Mount Laurel who overcame an academic

or personal challenge.

Liam Doherty

Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. $500.00

Graduate whose father is an officer of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

Sionnie Mathis

Project R-152 Scholarship $3,000.00

Graduate planning to use college as a way to further the needs of

others.

McKenzie McCloud

PSE&G Scholarship $850.00

Graduate who will be studying alternate energy or other related subjects.

Amanda Wells

Rancocas Valley Band Boosters Scholarship $500.00

Graduate who participated in the Rancocas Valley High School Band

Christian Pilawski

RCBC “Academic Excellence” Award One Year

Graduate that has demonstrated academic excellence and will be Full tuition

attending RCBC.

Sarah Chin Quee

RichForever Scholarship $600.00 each

Graduate who was inspired by Mr. Richardson and how he/she

will honor him in the future.

Zaire Carter, Imani Davis, Shannon Kelleher, Sionnie Mathis,

and Dasia Wright

ROVI Award $1,500.00

Student who created designs for the betterment of humankind.

Charles Robbins

Sarah Ferguson Memorial Award $400.00 each

Student with a positive, “can-do” attitude.

Timothy Shemeley & Caitlyn Amy

Snowden Smith Scholarship $250.00

Graduate planning to further their education in Heating, Ventilation

and Air Conditioning.

Nolan Mason

St. Paul’s Lutheran Church

Graduate who participated in the church and won the essay contest $800.00/year

Christian Pilawski

Veterans of Foreign Wars Patriotic Art Contest $500.00

Winner of Veterans of Foreign Wars, District 11 Patriotic Art Contest

Gabriela Berdugo-Hernandez

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Click HERE to access the official BCIT Medford High School Apparel and Merchandise Store for Jaguars fans, parents and alumni. Get your gear now and be ready for September!

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Article by Lisa Ryan - Burlington County Times

The program, Pathways for Career Education, allows students who decide on a career path later in high school to gain career training and industry credits alongside students who entered BCIT Westampton and BCIT Medford as freshmen.

Not every 14-year-old knows what career path he wants to take, and Burlington County Institute of Technology Superintendent Christopher Nagy said some students end up realizing later in their education that they want to attend the technical school to help achieve their professional goals.

“I’d always hear from juniors and seniors who wanted to come here, but couldn’t,” said Todd Bonsall, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

At present, prospective students apply as eighth-graders to attend BCIT for high school, or take adult education classes after high school. The way students’ schedules were organized did not allow for upperclassman transfers, according to Bonsall.

This fall, BCIT will change its scheduling method and open the doors of the Medford and Westampton campuses to new upperclassmen. Administrators presented to guidance counselors a new program called Pathways to Career Education on March 28.

“I think this is a happy medium,” Bonsall said of the PACE program.

The school is looking to take on about 20 juniors and 20 seniors at the Medford campus when it launches the pilot program and 10 students from each grade at Westampton.

Students study what Bonsall and others call “career-major courses,” and the Pathways program allows students to major in such areas as performing arts, advertising, architecture, construction technology and more. However, some ninth- to 12th-grade courses have too many requirements for one to complete them in two years alongside state requirements.

“We review everyone’s transcripts on a case-by-case basis when they apply, to assure that they are on track to graduate,” Bonsall said.

PACE students will have to complete the rest of their state graduation requirements and take two to four career-major courses to stay on track to graduate. If they succeed, they will finish high school with real-world experience they can use in college or a career, officials said.

PACE seniors will not have enough time to take more than four career-major courses out of the eight they need for end-of-program or industry exams. However, Bonsall said this provides a foundation for continued study in BCIT’s adult education program or at Rowan College at Burlington County, and at a lower cost than if the students had not completed some of the necessary credits in high school.

Like those in their year who entered BCIT in ninth or 10th grade, when Pathways program juniors graduate, they will be prepared for end-of-program and industry exams and to earn industry credentials that will help them in college or the job market.

“It gives them a leg up in a number of different ways,” Nagy said.

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Congratulations Class of 2018! We wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors!

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BCIT is very proud to say while 3 of our Seniors (1 from Westampton and 2 from Medford Campus) participated in the National SkillsUSA competitions in Kentucky this June, our amazing technology crews at BCIT managed to Live Stream their virtual attendance at both graduation ceremonies!

Congratulations!

Michael Dougherty (Westampton Senior) on your 3rd Place Win in Plumbing

Jaxson Bonsall and Jacob Titus (Medford Seniors) each placed 10th in Additive Manufacturing

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Article by Lisa Ryan - Burlington County Times

17-year-old Eagle Scout Jaxson Bonsall earned all 137 merit badges in the Boy Scouts of America organization, a feat less than 1 percent of all Eagle Scouts have accomplished.

LUMBERTON — Jaxson Bonsall, an Eagle Scout in Hainesport’s Troop Five, this month completed a two-year effort to earn all of the Boy Scouts of America organization’s 137 merit badges, just before the cutoff — his 18 birthday on Saturday.

Along the way, he did not just get to cover his uniform sash with patches — he also got to learn more about the world, and about himself.

Earning 21 merit badges is one requirement for a Boy Scout to rank up to Eagle Scout, the organization’s highest level, but Jaxson had 86 badges by the time he qualified for the honor in 2016.

“I just said, ‘I have 86, I might as well get them all,’” he said.

Over the course of that effort, Jaxson realized he likes skiing — on water and on land — and his family said he spent more than a year trying to master 15 different bugle calls for the bugling badge.

Todd Bonsall, Jaxson’s father and one of Troop Five’s leaders, said his own scouting experience was cut short when his troop disbanded. He became involved in Scouts again when Jaxson showed interest, and Bonsall has enjoyed the years of camping, kayaking, and quality time with his son.

“Obviously I’m very proud of his accomplishments, and was always there every step of the way to support him,” Bonsall said.

He cited just 381 Eagle Scouts who have earned all 137 merit badges throughout the history of the organization — a figure confirmed by Merit Badge Knot, an organization that works to track the achievement. With 2,485,473 Scouts reaching the Eagle rank since the 1900s according to scoutingmagazine.org, one could estimate that less than 1 percent of all Eagle Scouts have completed the task Jaxson undertook.

Ultimately, Jaxson wanted to pursue each and every merit badge because of their diversity — the badges and the new experiences they represented were always his favorite part of scouting. He attended numerous summer camps and weekend classes where he earned badges alongside friends from his troop, and took on some of the tasks solo.

He is an advanced scuba diver today, although he did not think he would even enjoy the activity when he first donned a wetsuit and oxygen tank in pursuit of the scuba diving badge. In working toward oceanography and engineering badges, he found two passions and realized he could combine them in his studies and future career.

Shortly after graduating from the Burlington County Institute of Technology’s Medford campus Wednesday night, having studied electronic and computer engineering, Jaxson will finish his associate’s degree through BCIT’s partnership with Rowan College at Burlington County. In the fall, he will move on to Virginia Tech’s Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering program and hopes to help create more environmentally-conscious military vessels.

Scouts set him on that path, just like it set him on 136 others. After years of trying things he would not have chosen independently, and finding out his own likes and dislikes by trial and error, Jaxson said he would recommend to any Scout that they try as much as possible.

“It has definitely given me a lot of ability to try new things and explore what I like and don’t like,” the 17-year-old said. “And it has really opened my eyes to a lot of things I wouldn’t have considered before.”

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A few of our fabulous teachers decided to break up their June with a little fun! They simply called it Fiesta Friday...a little "food" for thought for next year - very nice job ladies and Happy Summer!

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