Transcript: Mayor Adams and Public Schools Chancellor Aviles-Ramos Celebrate 120 Years of Career and Technical Education at New York City Public Schools

February 27, 2025

Principal Jaivelle Reed, Chelsea Career and Technical Education High School: Good morning everyone. My name is Jaivelle Reed and I serve as the proud principal here at Chelsea Career and Technical Education High School. It is an honor to welcome you all here today. 

As a future-ready NYC and career-ready modern youth apprenticeship school, our students benefit from personalized career and college advising, have access to early college credits and apprenticeship credentials, career credentials, work-based learning, and experiences with our industry partners and financial literacy designed to ensure our students know how to manage their money today, tomorrow, and for the future. Our team is committed to ensuring that all of our students graduate ready to excel in college, careers, and beyond. 

Today we are especially privileged to welcome two distinguished guests who have been steadfast champions of education, career connected learning, and workforce development in our great city. Mayor Eric Adams and Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos. Your leadership and commitment to strengthening education, career pathways, and equity in learning inspires us all. Mayor Adams, your vision for a stronger, safer, and more prosperous New York City aligns with what we do here every day, empowering our young people to build bright futures. I present to you the Honorable Mayor Eric Adams. 

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you, thank you so much. Before we get started, may I ask the students a question? I need another walk-on music. Can you offer me some suggestions? What's a good walk-on tune? Come on, who's got it? What about you? What music do you like? Which one you like? None? Who? Did somebody have a suggestion? You got earphones on. You have one? Walk-on music. Walk-on music. Huh? Can't hear that. You guys are so opinionated. At this age, there's no way you don't have an opinion. 

At this age, you have an opinion on everything. Because when I sat in the classroom at this age, I had an opinion on everything. So did the teachers tell you how to be quiet today? Did the principal tell you that? You know, you got to always be willing to share your thoughts and how you feel. And that's what this initiative is all about, this career readiness. Because when you leave school, when I left school, I didn't know what I was going to do. I bounced around. It was a level of uncertainty. I didn't have the skills that was needed. I was dyslexic, did not even realize that until I got into college. And it was just a level of uncertainty as I moved forward. And people used to laugh at how I read. They used to state, well, you'll never be anything. 

But you know what? They were all wrong. Because you know what I am right now? I'm the mayor of the largest and most important city on the globe. And so the careers that you're going to learn is not only to have a job, but you may start your own companies. You may start your own industry. You're going to use your skills and the diversity here to do the things that you want to do. 

And some of the friends you have here, you're going to know the rest of your life. I know my third grade classmates. We still interact now and they helped me throughout my development and who I am. So I want to thank Principal Reed and our chancellor and the entire team that's here. Because this is a crucial initiative that we're putting in place. And the paid work experience is an important part of that education. 

It gives the students the real experience. Because when you get out on a job market, how people expect you to perform and operate is totally different from the setting that you do inside a classroom. And that is the experience we want to give you. But we want to do it and put money back in your pockets. Because it means a lot. That's why we did the 100,000 summer youth employment. Because we knew that when you're able to make those extra dollars, it allows you to do the things within your family that you may not be able to do. 

We have been successful in this initiative and put in 18 million dollars in paid apprenticeship and work-based learning experience since the start of this administration three years ago. This is the largest amount in career-aligned work for New York City public schools ever. The largest amount ever. Internships and mentorships should not just be for students who have the opportunities. I didn't have the opportunity to be an intern. 

Internship is so crucial in your overall development and how you become a person that's ready to enter society and become employed in our society. And our city is here to support programs like career and technical education and Future Ready NYC. One of the ones that I am really pleased with. With our support, New York City students have gained real world experience working with the wide range of industries, partners, and over 290 different career fields including culinary arts, automotive technology. 

I used to be a mechanic during my days. I used to work on Porsches and VWs and Volkswagen and that skill became very important to help me pay my way through college. We also look at fields in health care, education, green jobs, and more. These paid opportunities are preparing you for competitive job markets and the future. Allowing you to earn industry certification and high demand skills as well as connect you to future careers and higher education opportunities. In addition to the impressive millions of dollars we put in the program, we also celebrate a hundred and twenty years of providing career and technical education at our city's public schools. This is a proud tradition that we want to continue and the Chancellor is zero focus on that. 

And as I said in our State of the City Address last month, New York City is the greatest city in the world and we're the greatest city because we have the greater future and ahead of us and that is the young people like yourselves that sit in this room. And our career and technical education program is an important part of this effort and so I want to thank all of our city agencies involved but this is where the American dream comes true, right here in atmospheres like this school. So again, principal, thank you. Chancellor and our entire teams and our teachers who make this happen every, every day. Thank you very much.

Principal Reed: Thank you very much, Mayor Adams. Chancellor Aviles-Ramos, under your leadership we have seen a renewed focus on career connected learning and educational excellence and we are proud to be a part of that movement. Please join me in welcoming our Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos.

Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, Department of Education: Good morning, everyone. I'm a high school principal. That was a pretty decent good morning but I'm going to ask my students to do a little better. Good morning, everyone. Yes, and that good morning is so important because it is reflective of the excitement that you all should have knowing that you have a plan. You are so far ahead of where I personally was when I was in high school. I had no idea what I wanted to do. All I knew is that I like to read and maybe I wanted to be a journalist, maybe I wanted to be a teacher, maybe I wanted to be a lawyer and then I went to college and I fell in love with medieval studies and I remember my mother told me, what do you think you're going to do with a degree in medieval studies? 

I mean, I turned out okay, but let's be clear, it is very, very frightening when you are in high school and in college and you don't know what your future is going to look like and you don't know where to turn to and what is available to you and most importantly, how are you going to make money and how are you going to establish generational wealth which is long overdue in our communities, right? You guys want to be able to get paid, right? Amen. 

So February is Career and Technical Education Month and I'm thrilled to be celebrating a hundred and twenty years of CTE here in New York City Public Schools and as a former high school teacher, principal and district leader, preparing all of you, all of our students for these bold futures beyond graduation is especially important and personal for me, and my daughter is a student in New York City Public Schools so I expect her to be as great as all of you when she gets to that age. She's ten so she's got a little time. 

I know how critically important it is that our children leave high school with a set of real-world, hands-on experiences that are directly connected to high-demand career paths and I'm so proud that our Office of Student Pathways is ensuring alignment to 21st century skills and industries such as health care, business, education and technology. And here at Chelsea CTE High School, for instance, students are gaining real-world experience and learning in networking, computer systems and telecommunications and graphic design. 

So thanks to programs like this one, our students are poised to become the innovators, creators, leaders and problem solvers of the next generation and this is a testament to the breadth and depth of our CTE portfolio which covers medical engineering, fashion design, culinary arts, architecture and so much more. Our students in these programs are proving their readiness for the real world and today's economy. As just one example, New York City CTE School saw a 94 percent graduation rate. 

That's right, going to clap it up for that. And I want to thank amazing leaders like Principal Reed who make that happen every single day. Not only ensuring that all of you have everything that you need to do this great work and get ready for these bold futures ahead of you, but also pouring into your teachers to make sure they have what they need to show up for you every single day. So thank you Principal Reed. I also want to thank my team led by Melanie Mack, our Pathways team, for all the incredible work that they do to make sure that this work is happening across the city and I especially want to thank, yes, and I especially want to thank Mayor Adams for recognizing since day one of this administration the importance of career-connected learning for our students here in New York City. Thank you for having me today and best of luck to all of you.

Principal Reed: For over 36 years, Mr. John Tebbett has been a CTE educator impacting thousands of students throughout his illustrious career. He serves as our Cisco Networking Academy teacher as well as an adjunct professor through our Future Ready NYC partnership with CUNY's LaGuardia Community College. Let's now hear a few words from our very own Mr. Tebbett.

John Tebbett: Thank you Principal Reed. Good morning. That's good, that's good. Okay, all right. As you all know, I'm John Tebbett. I have been here at Chelsea actually for 36 years, all my teaching career, right, and I opened the Networking Academy from Cisco in 2000 and got my first class through it in 2001. So the curriculum that is provided is a superb curriculum. It's great. 

When Cisco created it, they engaged the best educators and the latest study results about education along with their engineers to create the curriculum. It is multi-modal. It includes videos, it includes interactive activities, self-checks of knowledge retained. It is extremely well scaffolded. There are on-ramps for students at all capabilities to get in and learn the material. They use a simulation software, which my students will of course recognize. That's Packet Tracer, all right, and it has, in using these techniques, it is years ahead of general education because they were doing that when they started it back in 2000, actually 1998 I believe, okay. 

Okay, the curriculum itself within the NetAcad trains both the hands and the mind. It develops critical thinking, creative thinking. It develops organizational skills, problem-solving, and on top of everything else, collaborative teamwork. Students are then prepared to actually have a job out on the outside and know what it's like to be employed, and that's key. Now the content is continually and rapidly being updated because of technology changes, okay. Cisco obviously has a direct connection with the industry. They're one of the leading industries of the provider of the equipment, okay, and they know the skills that the employers want, and this drives the testing points within the certifications, and Cisco certification is the gold standard of the country, of the world, okay. 

They have academies worldwide, okay. They teach it everywhere, okay. So what you're going to find is not only cybersecurity, but you're going to find networking, AI, artificial intelligence data, and programming like Python and others. They're all available through the academy, okay. 

So here at Chelsea, I teach a three-year sequence. It begins with introduction to networking, moves on to switching and routing essentials, and then moves into enterprise networking and cybersecurity, and these lead to certifications such as the Cisco Certified Service Technician for networking. That's the CCST. Then there's CCST for cybersecurity, and the certificates of the latest bunch are on the bulletin board outside my room up there. You've probably seen them, but that's what they are, and eventually, of course, the Cisco Certified Network Associate, which is the next level up, and these are the certifications that are in demand by industry, and by getting those, your application winds up on top of the stack. That's it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 

Principal Reed: Thank you, Mr. Tebbett. Students are the reason why we cultivate joy and excellence in our classrooms, offices, hallways, and common areas. Addison Wang is a graduating senior and is currently ranked third in his class with an overall average of 97.38 percent. To that end, Addison will be graduating with an advanced regents diploma with CTE endorsements in Cisco networking. While completing his academic studies, Addison continues to thrive in his apprenticeship within the New York City Public Schools Division of Instructional and Information Technology. Let's continue that loud round of applause as we welcome our own Addison Wang.

Addison Wang: Thank you, Mr. Reed. Good morning, everyone. My name is Addison Wang, and I am one of three first-generation Chinese-American children raised by two very well determined parents. I'm a senior at Chelsea CTE High School and a career-wise apprentice for New York City Public Schools DIIT team. My family has sacrificed so much to give opportunities they never had, and for me, that opportunity lied in cybersecurity. 

At Chelsea CTE, I found my passion, learning Cisco networking, protecting systems, and responding to security incidents. Every challenge I faced along the road has only made me more resilient. As a junior cybersecurity analyst, I've had the honor of working alongside the professionals who safeguard a technology that keeps our city running. 

Every day, I grow, thinking critically, solving problems, and preparing for the ever-changing world of technology. My schoolmates and I push each other to be better every day, and today, at 17 years old, I can proudly say I am excited about the world of work, and I feel prepared to face the unknown. To the career-wise organization, my DIIT supervisor, Jenny, my principal, Mr. Reed, my CTE teachers, Mr. Tebbett and Ms. Scott, and all of my other amazing teachers, thank you for believing in me. 

To my friends and family, your support means everything. I also want to take a moment to thank Mayor Adams and Chancellor Aviles-Ramos for supporting CTE programs that give students like me a real shot at success. Please continue investing in these programs because they change lives. Thank you.

Principal Reed: As we come to the close of CTE month, where the slogan is celebrate today, own tomorrow, while simultaneously closing our Black History Month, I must say this. To our Chelsea CTE students, or Lions as we affectionately call you, our faculty, staff, school safety agents, food service personnel, custodial team, and our dedicated families, this is a moment to celebrate the incredible work that you do each and every day. The future of New York City is right here in our classrooms, offices, and other common areas, and together we will continue to create opportunities for student success. I thank you all for joining us today. Thank you.

Question: I have a question, Mr. Mayor. When you were talking to the students, you told them that you didn't know what you wanted to be when you were growing up. I wonder how you decided to enter this career that you have, and given the fact that you're in a tough race to get re-elected, how you feel about the people who are entering the race, Andrew Cuomo, Adrienne Adams, and whether that will regret your decision to get into this career.

Mayor Adams: That's a great question. That's a good sneaky way to get a question in. And, you know, what you asked, Marcia, is so important because leaving high school, I had no direction. I think, as the Chancellor stated, I was just unsure of, you know, going to school. I don't know who's in this room has a learning disability, but if you do, you know how it feels. You know, like I said over and over again, I used to walk into school and the back of the chair, they would have the dumb student. 

I used to get up every day and pray, God, please don't make me read, because people would mimic me throughout the whole day of how I stumbled over words and how just I couldn't read. And it was only because of the reinforcement of teachers, like the teachers that you heard here, and a strong principal, that I discovered I was dyslexic and I was able to turn around that and I bounced around. I was a mechanic. I was a host of other jobs. I was a paperboy. I worked in a restaurant as a dishwasher. 

You know, I did so many jobs and was unsure and was only after becoming a member of the NYPD that I found my drive of how public safety is important. And along the way, there was just competition. Competition is part of it. There were so many haters, but as I look over my life, my haters are now my waiters, as I sit at the table of success. You know, people can hate on you. They can call you names. They could do whatever they want. 

No one can take away the fact that I'm the mayor of the most important city on the globe. So to all these young people who are going through something, and people could tell you who you aren't, but if you believe in yourself, you could accomplish whatever you want. And so I don't care about all these people who are in the race. You know, you got all these folks that are in the race. I can care less. You know, I got the crown. They're trying to get the crown that I have, and there's only going to be one mayor. When I ran in 2021, there were a whole lot of people in the race that had more credentials than I did, and they were probably thought that they were going to win. But at the end of the day, you only call one mayor, and that's Mayor Eric Adams.

Question: What lesson would you like to give these students about what you went through? All the tough things that you had to go through. You called them the haters. How did you overcome that? How did you overcome all those people who wanted to throw, you know, something in your way to prevent you from doing what you're doing? 

Mayor Adams: Yeah, these young people are fortunate enough to have their parents in their lives. You know, my mother died in 2021 when I was running for office, and I remember one day she gave me this sign to put on my bathroom mirror, and it was I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E. It was impossible. And so when I sat there every morning, she said, baby, I want you to do something. 

I want you to say the first letter. And I said, I. And she said, say the next letter. And I said, M. And she said, now say the word. And it was possible. She said, what is impossible for others? I am possible. And I saw that every morning that I got up. And so people would say, it's impossible for you to graduate from high school. I saw I am possible. It's impossible for you to do things. I said, I am possible. So embedded in my mind every day, you need to find that word that is going to inspire you no matter what it is. And you need to live by it daily. You need to become a part of you. So a part of me is I am possible. Things are impossible for others, but nothing is impossible for me, because I am possible. And I live by that every day. 

[Crosstalk.] 

Question: Are you planning to use AI in your campaign? And would you use that to research your opponents?

Mayor Adams: I love that. And the teacher was talking about Cisco. Cisco qualification. I'm blown away that these young people are going to be Cisco qualified. That qualification is, that's the gold standard. And when you get out, you can make real money from the career. And congratulations to you on cybersecurity, another good field. And we're going to look at artificial intelligence, because the game has changed. 

These young people are going to grow up on artificial intelligence. And, you know, I was a when I graduated, I was a computer programmer when I went into the Police Department. I did computer programming and I wanted to be a computer programmer. But we're going to look at how do you enhance a campaign by using AI? 

And we're going to look for some of these young people that want to be an intern in City Hall and want to be an intern on other things that we are doing, because they have the knowledge and the skills. They're not afraid of artificial intelligence. They're not afraid of using various forms of social media. But yes, we're going to see how we can use artificial intelligence to enhance our communication to the public. 

Question: [Inaudible.] Can you decide which career paths are viable and not to spend all the time and effort being concerned by? And I'm thinking about for programming, there's more of a sense that some of those little jobs are getting replaced by AI. So how do you think about what the career paths are actually going to be?

Chancellor Aviles-Ramos: Yeah, really great question. Thank you so much. And I'm going to bring up our Chief of Pathways, Melanie Mac, because we really pay very close attention to this in the office. And who better to speak about it than our own expert, Melanie?

Melanie Mac, Chief of Student Pathways, Department of Education: Thank you for the question. This is probably my job, number one, and our team's job, number one, is that any decision we make related to the future ready career readiness and modern youth apprenticeship programs that Principal Reed spoke about, that Addison spoke about as a participant in is that we are meeting industry standards and expectations. 

We have really well-developed employer relationships, employer counsels that are organized by all of the sectors and look at real labor market information. What are the jobs that are growing across New York City in the years to come that we want everybody here at Chelsea Tech to be in line for and students across the city? And so these are very intentional, data-driven decisions done in partnership with employers to look at the cybersecurity opportunities right here at home in New York, as well as the openings within health care, health and human services, and in our own school system. You know, hopefully we'll have a shot at hiring Addison one of these days, given he's apprenticing within our IT division.

Mayor Adams: How many of you know what you want to do when you leave? You know what you want to do when you leave? What do you want to do? I'm sorry. A lawyer? An artist? Music and what? And painting? And what? 

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: Got it. Got it. My son is a, he goes under the name of [Jayoo.] He's a videographer and a music producer. I mean, who else? Who else knows what they want to do when they graduate? I can't see. I'm sorry. Yes. Uh-huh. What would you like to do? 

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: A pilot. Wow. Wow. Commissioner Stewart from the NYPD, the deputy commissioner of Community Affairs. He's teaching young people how to fly and how to get their pilot license. You know, all these planes, what they're doing nowadays, you know, I'm almost afraid to get on planes, you know, to be a pilot. Who else? Anyone else know? Yes. 

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: Big, big, big, big industry. Big industry. Animation is a game changer from video games playing to teaching people how to do professional things. We want to build out an animation industry here in the city. Other cities are doing a better job, but we think is huge. That's a huge industry and that's a great profession to go into. Who else? Anyone else know? Yes, ma'am. 

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: A nurse. Oh, my God. Let's hire you right away. We have a nursing shortage in the city. We have a real nursing shortage in the city. And, you know, nursing is more than just the medical part of it. Well, during the last days of my mother's life, there was a nurse that was in the room with her every day and she didn't just check her vitals. She would come in. She would really give her just this personal touch. 

And, you know, nursing is a calling. You have to really care about your patients. But we need nurses in all of our in all of our schools. That's a great career. Anyone else? Teacher, okay. You got it. You know, when you grow up, you're a couple of more years. You got to do before you get older. Anyone else know what you want to do? Yes. In the red hat in the back. I would like to. What? 

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: Oh, you know, when we did when we did our youth town halls. Two things came up in every town hall. Public safety. Mental health. You know, you know, you guys and ladies, what you're going through right now is unimaginable. You know, the mental health issue. And you probably know what you probably know for your friends, your loved ones. Social media has a lot to do with it. We never had this level of social media contact. And you're going to need mental health professionals who understand you and be willing so that you can feel comfortable about engaging in what you're feeling. 

Depression is high. Suicidal ideations are high. The loneliness feelings are high. Being judged is a real issue. There's a great book called Anxious Generation that I would encourage all of you to read on, you know, why your role as a mental health professional is important. We have what is the video we do? The online Teen Space. Are you familiar with Teen Space? Teen Space allows you to go online and get mental health support. And it's really needed. Anyone else want more? Anyone else? Yes, sir. I'm sorry?

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: Transportation industry. And. Yeah, like I said, I was a mechanic, you know, I used to fix Porsches and Volkswagen's, I was a mechanic and, you know, I used to do my little street hustle and fix people cars on the side of the road. You're never unemployed when you have skills. That's why these skills here are so important. These skills here, you can go across the globe and you can do it across the globe. I always say I always say you don't want to be a MetroCard leader. You want to be a passport leader. If you can do cybersecurity in Manhattan, you could do it in Manchester. If you could be a nurse in the Bronx, you could do it in Belgium. Don't be limited. Embrace the anti Christopher Columbus theory, believing if you leave your corner of your block, you're going to fall off the globe. You got to explore the whole globe. 

When you graduate from high school, the first thing you should go get, go get a passport and say, I'm going to become global. Everyone wants to mimic young people from America. You are like the prized possession of what it is to be a young person. And you must have a global mindset and not just a local mindset. Don't be afraid to leave the comfort of your community and your area. You're the leaders. You're not the leaders of tomorrow. You're leaders of today. Thank you.