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Samuel Speziale
  • Malta, NY

Samuel Speziale of Ballston Spa Graduates From Clean Technologies and Sustainable Industries Early College High School at TEC-SMART

2013 Jun 6

Samuel Speziale of Ballston Spa, a student at Ballston Spa High School, recently graduated from the Clean Technologies & Sustainable Industries Early College High School (ECHS) at TEC-SMART.

The class of 2013, which is the first to graduate from this program, includes 21 students from Ballston Spa, Columbia, Schuylerville, Hudson Falls and Saratoga Springs high schools.

The students have spent two years of study in a blended form of instruction that incorporates direct instruction with field experiences and research, providing them with foundational knowledge in the emerging technology fields. Students are dually enrolled in high school and college coursework with the potential of earning more than 22 college credits through Hudson Valley Community College.

The graduation of the first class of students was celebrated, Tuesday, June 4, at TEC-SMART. Presentation of capstone projects followed the ceremony. Samuel's capstone project, Durawater, focused on creating a better water filtration system using nanofilters.

The ECHS was implemented in 2011 by the Ballston Spa Central School District and Hudson Valley Community College at the college's TEC-SMART facility in NYSERDA's Saratoga Technology + Energy ParkĀ® (STEPĀ®) in Malta, NY.

Founded in 1953, Hudson Valley Community College offers more than 70 degree and certificate programs in four schools: Business; Engineering and Industrial Technologies; Health Science; and Liberal Arts and Sciences; and an Educational Opportunity Center for academic and career training. One of 30 community colleges in the State University of New York system, it has an enrollment of more than 13,250 students, and is known as a leader in distance learning initiatives and workforce training. Hudson Valley has more than 75,000 alumni.