Burlington County Vocational Technical High School - Reflections Yearbook (Mount Holly, NJ)

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B RLI THERE WAS A DREAM . . . On Iune 11, 1963 Burlington County Vocational Technical Board of Education conducted its first meeting. The Board of Education had and still does consists of five members, four of which are chosen by the Board of Freeholders and the other one the County Superintendent of Schools. The following people were appointed to the first board of Educa- tion on April 1, 1963: Mr. William C. Doyle, President Mr. Louise H. Kite, Vice-President Mr. Iohn C. Veghte Mrs. David Willis Mr. William L. Apetz, County Superintendent, Acting Board Secretary It all began when a letter was sent to Mr. John K. Ossi, by Mr. Apetz, offering him the position of Director of the School District. Mr. Ossi accepted GTON COU TY the offer and set his office up in the County Office Building at Union and High Streets located in Mt. Holly. Although Mr. Ossi held many, many ac- creditations his most impressive ones included his fifteen years of experience as a teacher and an administrator. In September of 1963, a post secondary day prac- tical nursing program was started. The first class consisted of nineteen students and the course of- fered clinical experience at four different hospitals. Additional programs were added that began as a half day course. In the morning, students would take their academics at their township high school and then have afternoon classes in either practical nursing, drafting and design, cosmetology, elec- tronics, data processing, auto mechanics or another vocational area. These classes were not held in the District Schools building, but rather the students WM 'ai '5 7 s 9 if A A - A fss g J xolx, f XR N I J x pg.. pf. f .5 ' 52. . . ' sf ,,-- ag f- ,E X 'Y . Xxxx 0 if . Q 43 I K X it 3 s A , . 4, as I f-P 45 ca s X fw- :+ 0-Sl-Q ' ' ' ... W B

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Reflections 1987 -4 I N +qOG A1uoNAL 4 410, g 2 1 Z S9 604 1 F- 5 L fh 43 4 , 4 25 3 -K Q 5 2 X nf 5 -: ' T73 V 1 .'.:.-fwf' t '55 v 5 Cx lj QDQQQS 1962-198353439 A 'ood' I ' S39-Saeeeiggg ff! f'C f3'oc , Q ff K ' IJ Q I l X X YW BCVTS Westampton Campus 0 Woodlane Road xy 4 Mt Holly N I X f 08060 W

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VO-TECH SCHOOL's F MILY f J , ,, pr , ttf t ' ff fJ.,,-...Jar-A - , at , N AL . f'f gCrC t r..sti T i I fV F4 J f,k' 'f ,, ' ?'f ' 's..4 had to meet in other building such as Summey Building for Practical Nursing or a garage in River- side for Autobody. Soon, the dream became more and more like reality for a home was found. In the spring of 1965 the 4.5 million dollar Burlington County Vocational Technical School was built on the 146 acres. The land was purchased for more than S200,000. When it opened, enrollment was as follows: ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade students were on a full-time basis, twelfth graders were on a sharetime program with their local school. Within the next two years, as there became a greater enrollment, the sharetime programs were to be discontinued and substituted for fulltime programs. The four year program began with freshmen hav- ing an exploratory session of six different shops during their first year. As a sophomore the students would select the shop of his fher choice. Since then this exploratory session has changed. However, then as it is now, one half of the day is spent in academic courses while the other half is spent in shop. On September 8, 1977, Mr. Ossi's dream even grew for on this day the Burlington County Voca- tional Technical School became a family of two. This day marked the opening of the Westampton Campus's Cthen Mt. Holly Campus, sister school, Iohn K. Ossi of Medford fpresently known as the Medford campusj. Together, the school grew in enrollment and popularity. Vocational Education became the way to go . Students, today continue to have an opportunity to leam with hands on while receiving what we feel the introduction and experiences to the real world. Burlington still provides a four year high school program. Upon graduating the students receive a New Iersey High School diploma. The school's in- tention was, as it is now, to offer a wide a variety of courses to high school students and adults. Today, Vo-tech offers the same courses as do regular high schools including foreign languages. We have grown to offer many, many more shops and academic classes than we did when we first opened. Now we all have a dream and goals and . . . IT ALL BEGAN AS A DREAM OF ONE MAN . . . IOHN K. OSSI.