On paper, Ed Stenzel is all business. After all, the longtime Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES employee has been helping students at the Ormsby Educational Center gain meaningful work experience through internships.
But in person, Stenzel is much more than a consultant teacher and the Work-Based Coordinator for Career & Technical Education. He’s best known for his unwavering support of students, foremost in the classroom, and for going out of his way to ensure each soon-to-be graduating senior finds the perfect internship related to their program.
His institutional memory when it comes to local businesses and the men and women who run them has undoubtedly provided countless students with invaluable hands-on training and job opportunities.
“An internship allows a student to see what it’s like in the real world,” Stenzel said recently while making his rounds of participating job sites, where students spend two hours a day as part of their internship requirement.
“For me,” he continued, “I get the most satisfaction from this job watching these students get their own jobs.”
Satisfied, and now fulfilled. After nearly 40 years at E2CCB, mostly at Ormsby in East Aurora, Stenzel felt the time was right to retire.
“I’m really going to miss these students,” he said. “My wife retired in May, and I decided that I would go when she decided to go.”
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Stenzel got his start at E2CCB in 1985 through a School-to-Work program grant. He was hired by Donald Grasso, and the funding that kept Stenzel employed was renewed every year for five years.
Early on, he split time between the Carrier and Ormsby Educational Centers, serving as a School-to-Work coordinator. He helped Special Education students in CTE programs write resumes, submit job applications, and set up interviews with employers.
One year, a Cosmetology instructor asked Stenzel to help her class with similar job-seeking skills. Eventually, he began working with all CTE programs, and his role as a conduit between students and internship sites was solidified.
“Ed really is the one who makes all of this work,” said Joseph Purcell, president of DC & S Fabricating in East Aurora. “Coordinating all of this isn’t a straight line. You have to handle a lot of things all at once, with transportation and working with the students and different businesses. We’re really going to miss the connection that he provides.”
When the coordinator position was eliminated years into his tenure, Stenzel became a consultant teacher, a role he has held for 17 years.
His work has not gone unrecognized in the community. In 2022, Stenzel was presented with the Visionary Award by the East Aurora Chamber of Commerce. At a ceremony, he was recognized for his decades of connecting students with internship sites and for his hand in the New Visions program at E2CCB.
MAKING THE ROUNDS
In the spring, Stenzel often can be found checking in on students at their internships. With a method cultivated over decades, he makes sure students are dressed properly and safely at their sites while seamlessly inquiring about the job and its relation to their CTE program.
With the help of their instructors, students are generally tasked with setting up their own internships during their senior year. They are asked to write a journal entry for each day at their job; upon completion, students are encouraged to write a summary of their experience.
Ormsby Principal Laura Sokol-Scott said internships offer students real-life, hands-on experience in their field of interest with individuals who have worked in that field.
“Students obtain practical experience and can determine if this is the right path for them,” Sokol-Scott said. “We have students every year who obtain full-time work from these experiences as well.”
On a recent morning, Stenzel stopped by Conley Caseworks in Elma to check in on Sophia Diaz, an Orchard Park senior enrolled in the Construction Technology program at Ormsby. He helped facilitate the internship after Diaz struggled to find a site, and it became apparent she was now thriving in her new environment.
While on his rounds, he also met with Emily Foley at Seneca Animal Hospital in East Aurora. During the visit, the Orchard Park senior enrolled in the Small/Large Animal Science program was assisting with surgeries.
Foley said she was learning a lot through her internship and planned to continue her education in animal care after high school.
“I really like it here,” she said of Seneca Animal Hospital. “This is definitely something that I would be interested in doing.”
In all, Stenzel met with eight students at six internship sites that morning: Diaz and Foley, as well as Joy Kelly of Holland and McKenzie Krzeminski of Iroquois at West Herr Buick GMC of East Aurora; Christine Norman of Iroquois at Blue Eyed Baker in East Aurora; Seth Guiher of Iroquois at Masterson’s Garden Center and Aquatic Nursery in East Aurora; and Ariana Walker and Brady Wilkinson, both of East Aurora, at Pasquale’s Restaurant in East Aurora.
Masterson’s Garden Center and Aquatic Nursery has brought on numerous CTE students over the years. Owner Mike Masterson noted several qualities that make for an ideal intern.
“We love self-starters and kids who come in and take an interest in this job,” he said. “It’s great when they come in ready to learn. That’s really important.”
Masterson praised Guiher, a senior enrolled in the Conservation/Natural Resource Management program at Ormsby, whom he called a “natural self-starter” and someone who finds work to stay productive.
“We have outright hired students in the past, and we’re actually hoping to do that again this year,” Masterson said. “Seth has been awesome, and I would say he’s probably, if not the best, one of the best interns we’ve ever had.”
READY TO RETIRE
Upon retirement, Stenzel said he plans to spend time with his wife, Gale, and three grown children, Daniel, Patrick, and Christopher.
While he looks forward to entering the next chapter of his life, he will miss driving into work every morning.
“These kids have kept me going, and I was really lucky to have had such great colleagues,” he said.
Among others, Stenzel acknowledged working with Thomas Huebert, Ormsby Educational Center principal for over 25 years; former Principal David Bogner for three years; and with current Principal Laura Sokol-Scott this past school year.
“She’s been very supportive and has helped promote the things we need to get done with these programs,” he said of Sokol-Scott. “I think she also sees the value and importance of these internships.”
