Recognition ceremony honors Public Safety and Justice seniors

Oswego County BOCES Public Safety and Justice Cadets were honored recently at the program’s annual recognition and awards ceremony.

Parents and family members along with BOCES and component school district officials gathered for the distinguished ceremony to celebrate the students’ accomplishments and educational achievements as they prepare for careers in police science, security, surveillance, corrections, emergency medical response, and firefighting.

A student representative from the morning and the afternoon class was selected to address the audience and speak on behalf of their classmates at the ceremony. While both representatives shared with the audience some examples of their classroom and hands-on learning experiences over the last several months, both also talked about the important, character-defining values that the program instills.

Jon Marie Fravor, the afternoon class speaker from Pulaski Academy and Central School District said that the program reinforces virtues of honesty, integrity and compassion while also building confidence, courage, leadership skills and valor.

Morning class speaker Samantha McNitt from the Sandy Creek Central School District agreed and added during her address, “This program gave me a sense of direction.”
The instructors honored the graduating seniors from the program, presenting them with official completion certificates. Special awards were also presented including: highest academic average awards, which went to Steven Stonecypher from the Central Square Central School District, and James Peet from the Mexico Academy and Central School District.

The Physical Training award male morning program winner was Mark Simmons from the Central Square Central School District and female morning program winner was Brittany Tanner also from the Central Square Central School District.

The afternoon program PT winners were Ivan Ward-Grossman from the Sandy Creek Central School District and Paige Lockwood from the Fulton City School District.

Also receiving special acknowledgement at the ceremony was Cadet Anthony Haywood from the Altmar-Parish-Williamstown Central School District. Haywood was presented with the program’s prestigious William T. Russell, Jr. Wendall Award.

As an annual tradition the Wendall Award recognizes one exemplary student that embodies the mission of the program and demonstrates a willingness to learn.

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