Annual Service Awards recognize important BOCES supporters Posted on 04/11/2018
A longtime law enforcement officer and a local business are the 2018 recipients of the Annual Service Awards from ONC BOCES.
Roxbury Town Constable Steve Williamson and Wightman Specialty Woods were recognized with the awards, which were given out at the ONC BOCES Annual Meeting at Otsego Northern Catskills Occupational Center in Grand Gorge on Tuesday, April 10.
Williamson, who has a close relationship with NCOC, spoke about the importance of community policing after accepting the award from ONC BOCES District Superintendent Nicholas Savin.
A law enforcement officer since 1968, Williamson has been the Roxbury constable for more than 30 years. He said he patrols the NCOC campus regularly before and after school hours, often visiting two or three times a day. He is also involved with emergency drills at NCOC and has helped build positive relationships with students and staff.
Wightman Specialty Woods has worked with ONC BOCES for decades, with brothers Dan and Dave Wightman serving on CTE Advisory Committees for Natural Resource Occupations and Building Trades. The company, which is based in Portlandville, also provides scholarships and internships to BOCES students.
Dave Wightman accepted the award from Mr. Savin on behalf of the company. Wightman referred to his and his brother’s experiences growing up on the family dairy farm, leaving for college and then coming back to the area to find many of his peers had moved away to pursue careers that were not available here.
“We came back, first and foremost to help our parents out, but also to see if we could do something for this area,” Wightman said. “What BOCES does is it readies the students of this area to have job skills that are marketable here, and marketable anywhere. They can obtain a level of skill that would enable them to be employed in industries here and we thank the BOCES program for giving that education to kids.”
In addition to recognizing the award recipients and conducting required annul business, the ONC BOCES Board of Education, as well as about 50 superintendents and board of education members from many of the 19 component school districts within the BOCES region, were also treated to a dinner prepared by NCOC Culinary Arts students.
The students received a standing ovation from attendees for their hard work in putting together a delicious multi-course meal.
Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2018