Hilton High School Junior Emma Monfiletto astounds students in teacher Brenda Carpenter’s class with “The Bronze Penny,” literary magazine she and the students created as part of her Career and Technical Endorsement (CTE) in Early Childhood Education. Provided photoHilton High School junior Emma Monfiletto surprised a class of elementary students with whom she was working in teacher Brenda Carpenter’s intermediate class at Quest Elementary School. She presented students with copies of “The Bronze Penny” for each student. The chapbook of poetry and prose, “The Bronze Penny,” was a year-long project to create, edit, and publish a book of their literary works. In the process, Emma came to a conclusion. “It showed me I wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “I thought it was great. I enjoyed seeing young students become inspired writers.” A former Quest Elementary student herself, Emma said, “Quest encourages free-thinking and inquiry. It helps you search for things you’re passionate about.”
Hilton High School currently offers three Career & Technical Education endorsements on the Regents Diploma: Business Management, Pre-Engineering and Early Childhood Education. A Career and Technical Education [CTE] endorsement candidate, Emma has been working with a mentor, science teacher Scott Michel, biology teacher at Hilton High School, and advisors from the Family and Consumer Science and Business Departments. “She gains not only academic insight into her chosen area of concentration, elementary education, but also real-world teaching experience.
One of the components of CTE requires students to participate in a meaningful work experience,” said CTE Coordinator Kelly Inzinga. “With Mr. Michel as her mentor, Emma has been shadowing and working with Brenda Carpenter’s class throughout the 2011-12 school year,” Inzinga said. “Emma is a two year veteran and member of our high school’s “Silver Nickel,” the publication that “The Bronze Penny” has been modeled after. Through Emma’s experience gained working with the “Silver Nickel” and by her keen desire to encourage the development of literacy skills at the elementary level, Emma offered the opportunity for Mrs. Carpenter’s class to create, design and contribute their prose, and have it compiled into a published work resulting in “The Bronze Penny.” The book was published through the efforts of the CTE program.
Hilton High School has received accreditation from NYS Education Department to offer a Career and Technical Education (CTE) endorsement on the Regents Diploma for three courses of study: Business Management, Pre-Engineering and Early Childhood/Elementary Education.
