“Every day is career day”: CSAT students & staff start their school year

KENMORE, N.Y. (WIVB) — Excitement filled the doorways of the Charter School for Applied Technologies as students and staff stepped into the first chapter of the school year.

“We’re going to make a lot of memories this year,” said Velynka Flunder, a second grade teacher at CSAT. “There’s going to be so much learning that’s going on, I’m super excited just to see what this year is going to bring.”

“You can see a lot of buzz in the air,” said Saldin Allah, whose dropped off his daughter and nephew for the first day of first grade. “I love this type of school because it’s very diverse, a lot of opportunities and resources for the children here.”

CSAT says they treat every day like career day. At the high school with their partnership of Erie Community College, students can earn up to 55 college credits by the time they graduate.

When elementary school students were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, they said a police officer, a baker, a gamer, a McDonald’s worker & owner, a tesla worker, an artist, and a nurse. Whichever career path these students end up choosing in their futures, CSAT has some programs designed to help them achieve their goals.

“We do that through literacy, through curriculum that talks about different careers and how we focus on learning,” said Sue Jurewicz, a principal at CSAT. “We do that through career touches, often people will see that as a field trip, but every time our kids go on a field trip, they have the opportunity to speak to the career of where they’re at.”

In one of their programs they have a greenhouse that helps children grow their roots in plant sciences, but they say they also grow pure relationships, ELA, research, math skills and more.

“It’s the passion for education, we are an educational community and this place is where hope grows,” said Cinde Cozad of the greenhouse operations at CSAT. “I think if you expose a child to a possibility and they latch onto it, they will run with it. I mean our life changes constantly as we grow into adulthood, but if you have a focus and a passion, that makes life a little bit easier as far as goals and what you attain.”

In the greenhouse, students help harvest the 360 heads of lettuce they help grow every 45 days and they get to feed the lettuce to the animals at the Buffalo Zoo. They say it’s a partnership that brings pure amazement to students, and those smiles can inspire.

“The smiles from the children, and what they’ve attained is worth going the distance for these students. They are our investment into the future,” said Cozad.

For more information on the school, visit their website here.

Hope Winter is a reporter and multimedia journalist who has been part of the News 4 team since 2021. See more of her work here .