Each year since 1984, several of the city’s Career and Technical Education graduates have been nominated for the Success Via Apprenticeship program, which combines college courses with apprenticeships in classrooms and in each student’s chosen industry to prepare them, over five years, to teach in CTE programs. “SVAs are the foundation of career and technical education in New York City,” said UFT Vice President for CTE Leo Gordon.

Students in the premedical academy at John Dewey HS in Brooklyn came up with the idea to start a club to help students of color, who are traditionally underrepresented in the field, pursue their interests in medicine and, with the help of teacher Sarah Howell, it got off the ground during remote learning.

The historic uprising for Black lives in the summer of 2020 sparked educators at Brooklyn’s New Utrecht HS to launch an Equity Team to tackle racial inequality.

The gaming club has been a hit among students at William E. Grady Career and Technical Education HS in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, since math teacher Peter Cozeolino started it five years ago. The program got a big boost in November 2021 when the ribbon was cut on Grady’s esports gaming room, a $150,000 project.

Sixth-grade special education teacher Julianne Salinger performed the Heimlich maneuver for the first time, saving a choking 7th-grader at IS 61 on Staten Island during the student's lunch period on Oct. 21.

In an effort to support and boost attendance, a new six-month pilot program and partnership between the UFT's United Community Schools and Clean Rite laundromats will give students and their families at five schools in four boroughs easy access to laundry facilities in their own neighborhoods.