Career Center at Steinmetz

CAREER AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
(1/2 credit)
This course is required by the NYS State Education Department for any student pursuing a sequence in career and technical education. The emphasis is on business and economic systems, career planning, selection and success, and financial literacy.

Computer Skills and Applications
(University)
Recommended for 9th and 10th graders.
This course is designed to introduce students to computer applications using Microsoft Office Suite. Students will learn keyboarding skills through drill practice and reinforcement of correct techniques. Students will create, format and edit academic and business documents. This course provides students with the foundation skills necessary to complete college assignments and/or word in a business office environment.

CAREER PATHWAYS
(1 credit)
All 9th grade students participate in this exploratory course where they spend 10 week blocks of study in each of the four existing career pathways. Key teachers in each introduce students to the program of study. At the end of grade 9 students will select a career pathway in which to major.

Office Management
Coming to the Office Management (OM) is like coming to work. We research, observe, listen, ask questions of each other and gain the real-life tools we need to conduct true business. When the work week is done, we ask ourselves “how are we going to use what we just learned?” After listing the ways, we put our knowledge and the professional skills of local businesses to the test.

In the first year, students gain knowledge of office technology, systems and procedures, as well technical skills. The second year incorporates this knowledge and skills with an element of decision-making, prioritizing, and multitasking; it also looks at the needs of specific industries and data analysis. Students will showcase their growth through community-wide projects and a professional portfolio in both years.

ADMINISTRATIVE SKILLS
(1 credit)
This class takes a brief look into the corporation and how it works, outlining the skill set and the responsibilities of the administrative assistant. Basic desktop publishing and technical skills are developed in Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint. Students execute daily tasks such as writing letters, memos and mail merges; composing customer invoices; and building visual aides like charts and graphs.

OFFICE PROCEDURES
(1 credit)
It’s all in a day’s work. This class develops the competencies necessary to be successful on the job, particularly in the office. The curriculum focuses on organizational and filing skills, team building, communicating in written form and orally, as well as managing and processing information. Students also focus on managing time, tasks, and records with a focus on financial records. The classroom provides a work-like environment where students must execute judgment and skill in order to complete the daily tasks asked of them. Students will put their skills to the test while working on actual community events and also by running the classroom business named Future Business Leaders Club.

Administrative assistant Overview
(1 credit)
Students will experience, in depth, the business tasks specific to corporate marketing, human resources, information technology, research and development, corporate communications, legal services and finance and accounting thus building the specific and necessary skill set for each department. Personal and career development also plays a role in the curriculum, allowing students the opportunity to effectively search for jobs in these related areas. Students will coordinate community events for the classroom business named the Future Business Leaders Club.

ADVANCED TECHNICAL SKILLS A1
(1 credit)
This is an advanced MS Office skills course in which students learn to seamlessly integrate MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access. Varied desktop publishing techniques are developed. Students will have the opportunity to take a globally recognized certification exam: Microsoft Office User Specialist.

Advanced Office Management I & II
(1 credit each)
Twelfth grade students assume the role of supervisor for Corporate Overview and Advanced Technical Skills students and opportunity to earn Microsoft Office Specialist Certification in Word, Excell, PowerPoint and Access.

CULINARY ARTS
Put the Culinary Arts/ProStart Program to work for you. This program combines relevant classroom activities with internships. Students will develop the real-world skills and knowledge needed to get ahead in the food service business. Students in the Culinary Arts Program learn how to prepare a variety of food products. They develop the essential skills of responsibility, self-confidence and decision making while preparing and serving lunch to the staff at Steinmetz Educational Center, surrounding schools, and catered events. Upon completion of the program, students will receive nationally recognized ProStart certification, opportunities to earn college credit for high school classes and scholarships from The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation.

CULINARY ARTS
(1 credit) (University)
This curriculum focuses on students learning about the food service kitchen. Students use commercial equipment, learn how to prevent accidents and injuries, and kitchen basics. Students create food items using standard recipes and practicing proper cooking methods. Meals are created to the nutritional needs of customers.

PROSTART I
(1 credit)
Curriculum emphasizes, in a work-like environment, successful customer and employee relations, food safety, sanitation, business math as well as how to prepare breakfast foods, sandwiches and salads. Students focus on teamwork by using the kitchen brigade system to complete production of menus. Students are assigned to role-play as managers, assistant managers and workers positions. Students assume these various roles and then prepare a meal for themselves or invited guests.

ADVANCED CULINARY ARTS
(1 credit)
Prerequisite: Culinary Arts or instructor’s approval.
Curriculum focuses on the art of service. Students serve customers using a variety of service styles through the lunch program or catering events. Menu planning and marketing skills are emphasized in this course. Students learn how to cook grain and potato products. This program is also designed to teach the art of baking. Students create yeast breads, quick breads, cakes, pies, pastries and cookies for sale and catering events. Students practice standard accounting practices to determine profit/loss statements for their products.

PROSTART II
(1 credit)
Prerequisite: Prostart I or instructor’s approval.
Curriculum builds on Prostart I. Students explore the history of food service, marketing skills, menu planning, purchasing and inventory control, as well as more sophisticated culinary skills. Students concentrate on meat, poultry and seafood cooking.

Advanced ProStart I & II
(1 credit each)
Prerequisite: ProStart II or instructor’s approval.
Twelfth grade students assume the role of supervisor for the Advanced Culinary Arts and ProStart II students.

MEDIA ARTS
The media arts career pathway at The Career Center @ Steinmetz is a program designed to give students technical skills and training in multiple areas within the genre of media arts. Students, through problem solving in areas such as color and design, graphic design, digital photography and video editing, will be prepared for entry level jobs in these fields or entrance into a college program specializing in media arts. ART
These two .5 credit courses fulfill the full year of studio in art requirement for graduation. The entire studio art curriculum will be covered. A final exam will be given for each .5 credit of the course.

INTRODUCTION TO DRAWING
(1/2 credit)
See School of Fine Arts description.
Prerequisite: students must have completed or be simultaneously enrolled in Studio Art or instructor’s approval.

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER ART
(1/2 credit)
See School of Fine Arts description.
Prerequisite: Students must have completed or be simultaneously enrolled in Studio Art or have instructor’s approval.

GRAPHIC DESIGN
(1/2 credit)
This program is designed to highlight color and design concepts and extend their use to the world of media arts. From advertising and typography, to game, toy and product design, students will learn the fundamentals of graphic design from real-life examples. Students will use a variety of techniques in their design solutions, focusing on computers and digital photography and video. Solutions to design problems will be discussed in both group and individual critiques.

ADVANCED GRAPHIC DESIGN
(1/2 credit)
Prerequisite: Graphic Design A or instructor’s approval.
This course is designed as a continuation of concepts taught in Graphic Design. Students will solve more complex design problems. They will investigate professional techniques and begin to use them in their own work. The focus of this course will be a simulated professional environment where students will offer individual solutions to design problems faced by professionals within the field. They will accept and offer criticisms from each other and the instructor both in group and individual settings.

COMPUTER ART A & B
(1/2 credit each)
Prerequisite: Studio Art, Introduction to Drawing and Introduction to Computer Art, or instructor’s approval
Computer Art A & B are two half-year courses for 11th grade Media Arts students. These two courses serve to broaden students’ knowledge of software and equipment used in Introduction to Computer Art as well as introduce new processes. Students will begin completing and compiling projects to be used within their senior portfolios.
Students will be expected to create a comprehensive notebook containing all assignments and exercises. This will include work done for community agencies and the Schenectady City School District. This notebook will serve as a resource guide for the student and will house the beginning of their portfolio. The focus of these courses is using technological resources as the tools for creating visual art. Filmmaking will be introduced during the 4th quarter.

COLLEGE LEVEL DRAWING
(1 credit) (University)
Prerequisite: Studio Art, Introduction to Drawing, Introduction to Computer Art, Graphic Design, Advanced Graphic Design, Computer Art A & B, Senior Portfolio or instructor’s approval.
College Level Drawing is a full-credit course taught in the High School classroom that allows students to earn Introduction to Drawing through SCCC. Students may take the course solely for high school credit or may earn 3 college credits transferable to any SUNY or CUNY school and most other colleges.

SENIOR PORTFOLIO REVIEW
(1 credit)
Prerequisite: Studio Art, Introduction to Drawing, Introduction to Computer Art, Computer Art A & B, Graphic Design and Advanced Graphic Design or instructor’s approval.
This is a full-credit course that helps students prepare a comprehensive portfolio reflecting their work over the past three years. The course is structured for each student individually based upon their career and educational goals. This portfolio is designed for use for employment and college applications.

Property MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT
This hands-on program of study is designed to train students in all facets of residential and commercial property management. Students who complete the four-year program will find themselves leaving high school with the skills necessary to work as a building superintendent. They will also learn the fundamentals of other building trades. From this, enrolled students will gain enough knowledge and experience to decide whether carpentry, plumbing, electrical, or a host of other career paths are correct for them. Though this program is not geared toward the traditional college-bound student, it does not ignore them. The program dovetails with most of the trade programs that colleges offer. Additionally, students that pair this training with business courses position themselves nicely for a job as a building or operations manager.

Students also will become better tenants. They will learn the work that it takes to patch holes in the wall, repair broken windows, and change locks. The skills that they take with them will allow them to troubleshoot and fix appliances. Ultimately, the skills will prepare the students for home ownership and all the rewards and responsibilities associated with it.

DESIGN & DRAWING FOR PRODUCTION I (DDP)
(1 Credit) (art credit)
Open to grades 9, 10, 11, and 12. This is a Core Technology course. There are no prerequisites.
Design and Drawing for Production is an activity-based course which concentrates on design as a creative problem solving process and technical drawing as the method of expressing a design. Students in DDP will develop solutions to various design or product problems using research, sketching, drawing and presentation techniques. Individual and group projects will emphasize the development of critical thinking. The computer will be used as a resource tool in the formulation and presentation of potential solutions. Students will be given design problems requiring more complex problem solving and representation methods to be applied. The computer will be used as a resource tool in the formulation and presentation of potential solutions.

FUNDAMENTALS OF PROPERTY Maintenance AND MANAGEMENT
(1/2 credit)
Focuses on students learning the importance of daily logs, how to write up labs and other typical property management paper work. This class will stress the design process, logic, and problem solving brought to bear on real life problems and situations. This class will reinforce the fundamentals of various computer applications for word-processing, spreadsheets, and teach the basics of computer-aided design. It also has a portion devoted to basic safety and emergency procedures. The class will mainly focus on projects and practical skills.

BASIC CONSTRUCTION SKILLS
(1/2 credit)
Prerequisite: Students must be enrolled in the property management program and have completed the Fundamentals class or have permission of the instructor.
This class focuses on basic carpentry. Students will learn the safe use and maintenance of various power tools. They will learn the basics about framing and rough construction. They will learn proper methods of roofing, sheet rocking, plastering and taping as well as painting. Students will practice and be tested on the various skills on the 10x10x10 “apartment building” built within the classroom.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT A
(1 credit)
This class is the companion class to be taken with Fundamentals of PMM and Basic Construction Skills classes. This class is designed to provide extra time and support for the various topics covered in the companion classes. One key part to this class is the creation and development of a portfolio, covering the students’ notes, logs and labs for everything they have learned in Fundamentals of PMM and Basic Construction classes.

BASIC BUILDING TRADES
(1/2 credit)
Prerequisite: Students must be juniors in the property management program, or have permission of the instructor.
This class will focus on the hands on trade skills a building superintendent will most likely be faced with. Plumbing will include supply and drain lines, various fixtures, septic tanks, sewers, and wells. Electrical will focus on line voltage type situations like light fixtures, outlets, switches, and changing breakers. Telecommunications will look at all phone, data, and CATV lines. Other units that might be covered are HVAC and furnaces. While each section will involve some theory and history, the focus will be on hands on, real problem in our “apartment building” within the class.

OUTSIDE BUILDING MAINTENANCE
(1/2 credit)
Prerequisite: Students must be juniors in the property management program or have permission of the instructor.
This class will focus on improving and maintaining parts of the apartment complex that are outside the scope of the living spaces. There will be a subsection on grounds keeping and landscaping. Some of the activities that might be included with this are helping to prepare fields for games, keeping the courtyard clean and neat, and beautifying other parts of the school. There will be a section on gardening and planting various vegetation. There will be a section on lawn care. There will also be sections on parking lot, driveway and sidewalk maintenance. There will be a section on recreational spaces such as swimming pools and weight rooms and all that must be done to maintain them. There will also be sections on snow and ice removal.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT B
(1 credit)
This is the companion class to be taken with Basic Building Trades and Outside Building Maintenance classes. The class is designed to provide extra time and support for the various topics covered in the companion classes. As with Property Management A, students will continue to develop their portfolios.

Advanced Property Maintenance & Management I & II
(1 credit each)
Twelfth grade students assume the role of supervisor for 10th and 11th grade students enrolled in the Property Maintenance & Management Program.

COURSES APPLICABLE TO ALL CAREER PATHWAYS

CAREER EXPLORATION INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
(1/2 - 1 credit)
See description in Global Commerce Small Learning Community.
No prerequisite. 12th grade students only.

WORK EXPERIENCE
(1/2 - 2 credits)
See description in Global Commerce Small Learning Community.
No prerequisite. 11th & 12th grade students only.

WORK EXPERIENCE SEMINAR
(1/2 credit)
See description in Global Commerce Small Learning Community.
No prerequisite. 11th & 12th grade students only.

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