Two local tech whiz kids named first in state
V’ville’s Brozowski first place in data entry



VOORHEESVILLE — Ashley Brozowski, a senior at Clayton A. Bouton High has excelled in school thanks to the Capital Region Career and Technical School for vocational training, she said. Brozowski made the high honor roll this year, and last weekend won first place in New York State for data entry at a SkillsUSA competition in Syracuse.
"I think a lot of kids at my home school are missing out," Brozowski said of other Voorheesville high school students.

She has been attending the Capital Region Career and Technical School part-time for two years now, spending some of her time at Clayton A. Bouton, taking traditional academic courses. This semester, she is taking physical education and government classes at Clayton A. Bouton and webdesign courses at the career and technical school.
Students at Voorheesville, Brozowski said, "often make fun of the VoTech kids"calling us retards".They think it’s not for smart people." When that’s not the case, she said. She’s been learning useful skills that a lot of other kids her age don’t know, she said, like how to make a professional website.

They sit in class all day doing the same average stuff, Brozowski said of her peers. One of the perks of going back and forth between schools, Brozowski said, is that she gets out of the boring government class a little early.
"It bothers me a lot," she said of when the teens make fun of her. "It makes me aggravated — they don’t know, they aren’t part of the program."

She thinks she has an upperhand over them now in the job market because she has received hands-on learning experience that traditional high-school students haven’t.

To win first place at the state competition Brozowski inputted three pages of data and codes in 30 minutes using Excel. She was judged on speed and accuracy. The full competition lasted about three hours, during which other skills where tested including math and spelling ability using various computer programs. At the regional level, Brozowski placed for both data entry and word document, she said.

Brozowski has been accepted at Hudson Valley Community College for the fall, where she plans to pursue a liberal arts degree.
She got into computer studies for high school, because she thought it would be interesting and "computers are the thing to get into these days," she said; computer skills are necessary in the job world. Also, she took an interest in computers because her father works with computers for Newkirk, so he has been able to help her with her studies. He’s now going to college, too, she said, so they will continue to bond and study together.

In her free time, Brozowski likes to surf the Internet and read; she just finished reading The DaVinci Code.
Brozowski said she doesn’t see herself in an office job in the future, sitting in the same spot at a desk all day, every day. But, in terms of high school, "I’m ready to get out!" she said. "I guess I’ll see where the road takes me."