Tid bits of Classroom News

Culinary Arts

Post by: Chef Bob Mcintosh

In an exciting kickoff to our year, CRTC culinary classes hosted the “Cooking with the Culinary Institute of America” event on Monday, September 24. Along with all CRTC Culinary Arts students (and some parents) we were joined by students, parents, and staff connected to Culinary Arts Programs at Salem High and Portsmouth High Schools. Everyone was treated to an admissions video, a demonstration on vegan knockwurst by seasoned demonstrator Aaron Baddely, and a lesson on white and dark chocolate mousse by Chef Instructor Paul Prosperi. Lots of information and some great tastings made the day very memorable.

Student teams are also making plans to enter the NH Healthy Meals competition in October and November. The contest requires culinary arts students to design a healthy recipe that has student appeal and fits the USDA guidelines for the school lunch program. Finalists will be chosen from the recipes submitted and those teams will compete in November at Southern New Hampshire University for the bronze, silver and gold medals. All recipes will be available for use by school lunch programs across the country.

Teacher Preparation

Post by: Val Flanders

Talk about an unexpected and interesting start to the school year! During the second week of school, we discovered that the Teacher Preparation building needed major construction and we had to move to another building. Elementary Principal Deb McNeish graciously offered us available space in their newly-built elementary school. In September, we moved both the Teacher Preparation classroom and our lab classroom, Crimson Tide Preschool, to the Abbot-Downing School. The high school students are housed in an upper elementary classroom and the preschool is in a kindergarten classroom. All of our students, high school and preschool, have quickly adjusted to our new environments.


We feel very fortunate to be located in this state of the art building. The high school students are amazed by the design and structure of this school. It has also been a wonderful experience for the high school students to be exposed to the reality of what life in a running elementary school is like. They are seeing all aspects of the school throughout the day. The staff of the Abbot-Downing School has warmly welcomed our students and are sharing teaching materials with us. In the coming months, the high school students will be able to work with some of the elementary students on special projects. We hope to build a strong relationship with the staff and students this year.

Construction Technology

Post by: John Hubbard

Exciting time in Construction Technology! Construction Technology I students are busy working towards completion of their first project. Each student is cutting and assembling pieces for their individual sawhorses. The project involves the use of power tools such as circular saws, table saws, electric drills, and orbital sanders. Math skills and safety are heavily stressed throughout the project.

Construction Technology II students have begun construction of a two story building in the shop area. Upon completion, the building will be used by the students in refining their hard skills like roofing, siding, drywall, stairs, plumbing, electrical, windows, doors, and kitchen cabinets.

On September 21, all Construction Technology students attended Construction Career Days at the Hopkinton Fairgrounds. Over 1,200 students from high school construction programs attended the two day event. Students were exposed to over 50 different careers, many with hands on activities. Some of the careers included architecture, heavy equipment operation, surveying, and welding.

The Construction Tech Program also does work in the community.  This month we are working on the stairs at the Friends Program Homeless Shelter on Thompson Street.

Health Science & Technology

Post by: Sharon Bean 

This year's enrollment is exciting for several reasons. Number one, the students are a great group of kids that are eager to learn. Number two, according to the US Department of Labor Statistics, “in health care and social assistance are expected to have the fastest rate of growth over the next 10 years, adding a projected 4.0 million new wage and salary jobs, or 27 percent percent of all new nonagricultural wage and salary jobs” (http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2007/11/art5full.pdf).

To start off the year, the Health Science students were invited to Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital (HSRH) at 254 Pleasant Street in Concord for “Career Day” in honor of Rehabilitation Week. While at HSRH, students were introduced to several health care professionals who are currently active in their professions including the CEO of HSRH, the Chief of Nursing, a Speech Pathologist, an Occupational Therapist and a Physical Therapist. Students were also given a tour of the state of the art rehabilitation facility. Throughout the year guest speakers of various disciplines will come to class to share their expertise and pathway to their profession. This month we have a Respiratory Therapist from Concord Hospital, the CEO, Mike Green of Concord Hospital and a Cystic Fibrosis patient from Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center coming into class.

Students are also invited to and attending a six week educational series sponsored by Dartmouth Community Medical School titled, “It’s Personal: Medicine’s evolution away from one size fits all”. This program is voluntary and takes place on Tuesday evenings from 7pm-9pm in Manchester or Nashua. Lastly, we had our semi-annual Blood Drive on October 31, 2012 from 8am- 2pm in the Concord High School Gymnasium.

Automotive Technology

Post by: Scott Mayott & Phil Bill

On September 20th, Automotive Technology had their annual Engine Night. Trucks, trailers, and even one minivan lined the street as students waited in anxious anticipation of dropping off their engine. You could feel the excitement as the engines were unloaded by the Auto I students and their parents. Four Auto II students were invited to help, so that number swelled as some of the students and parents stayed to help others with the unloading of their engines.

On Friday, October 12, all of the CRTC Auto Tech students attended NHASA Automotive Day at New Hampshire International Speedway. The event included: exhibitions and demonstrations of new technologies and a chance to meet college representatives. Our students enjoyed the day and made a number of great connections.

Fire Science

Post by: Steve Rothenberg

We continue to finalize plans for a Fire Science Program starting in 2013/2014. The actual offerings will be finalized in the next two months, but the expected plan is to offer Fire Science I, in the spring semester of 2014 and EMT the following year. Fire Science I will run from 7:45 am to 10:45 am daily. We continue to work with the Concord Fire Department as well as the State Fire Academy to create the best configuration. This will be a unique offering in any case and unprecedented for us. There will not be one teacher - instead a mix of Certified Fire Science trainers will be teaching it. It is also very possible that much of the programming will take place at the Fire Academy at Smokey Bear Drive off Route 106 including on weekends to do hands-on activities. This raises transportation issues and other challenges, but on the other hand provides us the most authentic setting. We are definitely blazing (bad pun) a new trail with this program. More news coming.

Information Technology

Post by: Joseph Messineo

We have a very exciting semester in Info Tech as we begin the year with Robotics. Students will be learning the fundamentals of science & engineering through the hands-on activity of building and programming robots.

Students are challenged to use Science, Technology, Engineering and Math to solve problems and complete individual challenges using both physical robots and robots in Virtual Worlds.