Sam Morse of Rochester and Brendon Senior of Carver have already cleared a major hurdle on their path to professional excellence. On January 16, they successfully completed the written portion of the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation’s annual competition. Having pulled through those riggers, they advanced to the hands-on second half where they tested their ability to handle stress while employing their technical skills as partners.

On February 6, these students, along with students from nine other vocational high schools, met to compete at Massachusetts Bay Community College in Ashland. The second and final part of the competition required identifying the problems, solving the problems, and fixing them. No small feat indeed when one considers all the variables.

Morse and Senior are seniors at Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School in Rochester. On many levels, these young men are already professionals in the field of automotive repair. Both have participated in cooperative programs that allow students to work outside the school walls in their chosen field of study.

Morse and Senior have both been employed by a Toyota dealership. But moreover, critical thinking skills along with practical application of those skills have been honed by the curriculum at OCRVTHS bringing these two students to the heights of achievement in automotive repair.

“Critical thinking starts in the freshmen year,” explains Jackie Machamer, assistant principal. She said vocational schools have changed over the years and are now recognized for the importance placed not only on vocational skills but also on academic studies. “Today, if a student wants to pursue a four-year college placement, we can do that,” Machamer said.

Whether the student wants to matriculate directly into the workplace after graduating from school or wants to continue their education in other settings, Machamer was clear that, with a vocational school program, all things are possible.

Twenty-two year instructional veteran Dennis Frates said Morse and Senior have been continuously performing at a high level since their freshmen year. He explained that OCRVTHS is a small school with small classes, but it sets high standards at every level.

Both Machamer and Frates, along with John Mare, 16-year automotive instructor, stressed the importance of ensuring that the students receive a well-rounded educational experience at OCRVTHS. The trio also expressed that their students are assisted every step of the way to reach their individual goals.

As for Morse and Senior, they exuded cool, calm demeanors on the eve of the competition. Senior shared that he hoped for the best on Saturday, while Morse said, “This is nothing new to us.”

Yup, just another day of troubleshooting car problems, fixing them, and moving on to the next challenge.

The students’ education requires that they not only understand the complexities of vehicles loaded with electronics, mini-computers and the like but also the sophisticated diagnostic tools employed in the process of repairing automobiles. Add to that the pressure of a competition, and it’s easy to see how some might not be up to the challenge. For Morse and Senior, however, their ability to handle it all has been fostered in an environment geared towards proficiency at every stage of learning.

Old Colony has never won first place in this competition, but it has succeeded in participating in the Massachusetts regional event for the last 25 years earning several respectable second place standings. And, although Old Colony didn’t walk away with the coveted prizes this time, the experience of participating and the memory of the effort necessary to get them as far as they did will remain with Morse and Senior for the rest of their lives.

“We may not have won, but it was an honor to participate in the competition to that degree,” Morse said.

By Marilou Newell

The trip to the library was the highlight of my week as a kid, well before I was able to read on my own. I loved walking up the concrete wheelchair ramp, my fingers lightly skidding up the iron black cold handrail to the door that pushed open. In the vestibule, a long corrugated clear vinyl mat delighted me with the sound it made as I shuffled my feet across it, dragging my toes behind each step.

That scent of bound paper and ink, woodwork, potted plant, and must is a smell I still clearly recall as an adult. The children’s department was to the left, where my mom would leave me to choose my up-to-eight books while she browsed the adult fiction section for the two books she would devote her time to over the next seven days.

My mother loved to read books. She mostly checked them out from the library, but she had a small bookcase of her own that I would sometimes “play library” with at home, pretending to be the librarian who got to use that groovy machine that would stamp the card with the date and due date when pushed into the metal slot. “Ca-chunk.”

It was a place where people said “hush” and had to be quiet. It felt sort of sacred, like in a church.

Books and the library were such a vital part of my growing-up experience. In the libraries of the 21^st Century, there is a little bit less of the old “shushing” going on. Libraries now offer so much more than books, with children’s events and activities, computer access, and still the good old-fashioned book club.

Part of the reason for all these fun activities, says Plumb Library Children’s Librarian Lisa Fuller, is to get people into those library doors so they can actually see what is in store for them at their local public library. “Library awareness,” Fuller called it.

On Saturday, February 6, the Plumb Library participated in a national tradition now in its fifth year: Take Your Child to the Library Day.

Held on the first Saturday of February, the Plumb Library hosted its third such event, giving itself the opportunity to show patrons and community members that the library is more than just a building full of books.

“We’re sort of a community center in some ways, and we would love to see some new faces,” said Fuller. “Our struggle is that we feel we have a decent-size community and we feel that people forget that the library isn’t just a place to check out a book.”

For Take Your Child to the Library Day, Fuller said she chose a number of performers for the purpose of showing patrons just that, having them link their performances in some way, shape, or form, with the library books.

Children were treated to a story read by Alice of Alice in Wonderland, a performer from Encore Entertainment of Mattapoisett. Library patron “Professor Trelawney” of Hogwarts School read fortunes for the kids, and Mr. Vinnie from Toe Jam Puppet Band put on a puppet show created just for the Plumb Library’s event.

Library staff also gave demonstrations on other offerings at the library, such as their online services that offer e-books and intensive research applications for older students. The library showed off its video game and movie collection, magazines, and introduced its children’s activities such as storytime hours, Lego club, and junior friends club.

“We tried to give the people a feel for what’s in-house and what’s available online,” said Fuller. “There’s just so much that’s available and, importantly, at no cost.”

Fuller said the Plumb Library website is new and improved for 2016, making it easier to navigate and find information more efficiently. With the help of a local computer-savvy library patron, Fuller said, the website is now up and fully running.

“We’re trying to make connections. Bring people in. We’d like to see some new people.”

It is no wonder that the results of a survey of patrons over and over turned up one consistent key phrase: “wonderful staff.”

The library staff is constantly coming up with new ways to entice young would-be patrons of the library to come inside, said Fuller, and is devoted to making the library a part of the lives of community children. For more information, visit www.plumblibrary.org.

By Jean Perry