When your passion is working in the great outdoors and creating beautiful spaces, owning your own landscaping company is a dream come true. That is just the outcome for several graduates of Putnam | Northern Westchester BOCES Urban Forestry program, all of whom own and operate their own landscaping businesses. They attribute much of their success to graduating from the Career and Technical Education program.

“Urban Forestry played a key role in the success of our businesses,” said Eddie Bazinet of Eddie’s Yard, a landscaping company in Yorktown. Along with his brother Joe, the two also co-founded Bold Design Build, which creates intricate indoor and outdoor spaces using stone, wood and tile. Both students are graduates of Lakeland High School and of the Urban Forestry program, Eddie in 2006 and Joe in 2012. The brothers started the companies shortly before Eddie graduated.

Urban Forestry teacher John Madden is credited by the former students for giving them hands-on experience that they wouldn’t have otherwise found.

“Mr. Madden and (former teaching assistant) Mark Hilpl are a wealth of knowledge,” Bazinet said. “They not only taught the fundamentals of safety and application, they gave us real-life experience, which you truly cannot find anywhere else. They molded and shaped our successes in sawmilling as well. They taught us the 'how's' of the industry inside and out.”

Blake Fahey, a 2017 Yorktown High School and Urban Forestry program graduate, opened his own business less than two years ago. Blake Excavation, also in Yorktown, focuses on residential and commercial projects, including new construction, land clearing, retaining walls, and more.

Fahey, whose father owns a construction company, had familiarity and passion for the field before he began the program at BOCES. But, he said, the program taught him new skills and tightened his old ones. “I learned proper tree removal, tree climbing, machine maintenance and how to drive a trailer,” Fahey said. “Enrolling in the program definitely helped me get a head start in opening my own business.”

Jake DeMasi, a 2014 Lakeland High School and Urban Forestry graduate, owns Alpine Tree Service company in Hopewell Junction. DeMasi has a degree from the University of Massachusetts’ Stockbridge School of Agriculture and holds three arborist licenses, including an international license. In addition to learning from his father, who also owns a company, DeMasi said he gained invaluable training from the BOCES program.

DeMasi said the Urban Forestry program taught him how to do proper tree climbing, use equipment, and learn about arboriculture. “So much of my success is due to the Urban Forestry program,” said DeMasi. He credits teacher Madden with providing the encouragement and motivation as well as the skills he needed to realize his dream.

Bazinet said he is grateful for the program that helped him and his brother succeed in opening their own businesses. “We thank our teachers there for pushing us outside of our comfort zone in all aspects, from running machines, climbing, using chainsaws, and honestly, all aspects of life. Having real life experience with such a beautiful community made a huge impact in shaping our businesses, our futures, and, in turn our lives.”

New Visions Health teacher Caroline Murphy wants to make sure her students know as much as possible about health-care career choices — which is why students do an in-depth research project about their choice of profession. Recently, they presented their findings, which included statistics on salary, scope of work, and education requirements, to their fellow students on campus. In addition to physicians, students chose to research careers as newborn intensive care unit (NICU) and ER nurses, substance abuse counselors, nurse practitioners and pediatric nurses, among others.

“The students research everything about a possible career choice, so they really have a solid knowledge of the field,” said Murphy. They had to research five in-state colleges and five out-of-state schools that have their desired programs, the salary range of the positions, and the licensing needed, as well as other facts about the career path.

New Visions Health is a career-exploratory honors high school program for students interested in a career in health care. Students rotate through New York Presbyterian/Hudson Valley Hospital or Northern Westchester Hospital and gain real-world experiences, shadowing professionals in multiple departments.

Fashion Design and Merchandising students combined their design skills to make things a little more pleasant for people going through cancer treatment. They created beautiful — and comfortable — seatbelt pillows.

The pillows help ease the pressure that car seatbelts can put on people whose bodies are sensitive from cancer treatment.

“My students made 100 pillows that will go into care packages for One Tough Cookie in Stamford,” said teacher Lisa Tobin. One Tough Cookie is a nonprofit whose mission is to provide support to those going though cancer treatment through care packages, peer-to-peer support groups, music, comedy, wellness programs and charitable events.

Tobin said her students were honored to put their creative skills to such a good purpose.

“The pillows my students created will go to patients receiving treatments in local hospitals.”

Search for Putnam Northern and look for the BOCES logo. 

The Tech Center at Yorktown www.pnwboces.org

Editor: Karen Thornton Designer: Valerie Laudato