Category Archives: Education/ Training/ Personal Development

The Adirondack Trust Co. was honored at the third annual Financial Capability Innovation Awards presented by a leading technology innovator, EverFi Inc.

Presented at Nasdaq Marketsite in New York City, the award recognizes the company’s “significant efforts to improve the financial capability of local teenagers through unique online learning initiatives,” officials said in a new release.

Adirondack Trust has partnered with EverFi to bring the EverFi and Vault Financial Literacy Courses to local students at no cost to schools or taxpayers and has reached over 2,000 students since the 2014-2015 school year. The web-based program uses the latest in simulation and gaming technologies to bring complex financial concepts to life for today’s digital generation, officials said.

Charles V. Wait Jr., bank executive vice president, said the company “is honored to receive the Financial Capability Innovation Award from EverFi and Nasdaq. As a community bank, we feel it is important to encourage students in our local communities to learn about financial education and we are proud to be able to provide it through the EverFi program.”

He said he is committed to providing students with the skills and knowledge needed to successfully navigate the increasingly complex financial world.

“Each year, we travel to the birthplace of the American financial system to honor institutions that are truly dedicated to going above and beyond in service to their communities,” said Ray Martinez, EverFi President of Financial Education. “The Financial Capability Innovation Awards have given us the opportunity to share and celebrate the tremendous investment these institutions are making and continue to make in the communities where they live, work, and serve. For EverFi, our time here reminds us just how critical the role innovation continues to play in empowering Americans to pursue economic opportunity and achieve financial security for themselves, their families, and their community.”

By Maureen Werther

The Academy for Lifelong Learning (ALL)at SUNY Empire State College is celebrating its 25th year in existence. It continues to attract more members and expand its offerings each year.

Jeff Shinaman, who has been at the helm for the last four years, said that membership has doubled during his tenure.

“We have a growing aging population here in Saratoga. People who come here from other parts of the country are familiar with lifelong-learning institutions from other places where they’ve lived. So, they are excited when they see that it is available in their new home,” he said.

ALL is hosted and sponsored by SUNY Empire State College and is a nonprofit organization. It offers a non-academic credit curriculum that includes lectures, study groups and social opportunities focused on a diverse range of topics from healthy aging to the arts, religion, classic films and bird watching.

It has 430 active members who pay an annual membership fee to take advantage of the many study groups and social events on the calendar.

ALL offers a fall and spring term. Each is eight weeks in duration. There is also a kickoff luncheon held the week before classes start, giving members the opportunity to meet.

Katherine Hagen is the executive director of Huntington Learning Center.

©2016 Saratoga Photographer.com

By Jill Nagy

Huntington Learning Center in Clifton Park offers individualized tutoring for young people trying to catch up, attempting to get a leg up on their peers, or looking for help preparing for college entrance exams or other standardized tests.

The center, a franchise of a national company, has been owned since 2014 by Randal and Katherine Hagen. Hagen is the executive director. Her husband, Randal, is part owner but not active in the business. The facility opened under other ownership in 2008.

The tutoring facility serves children in grades K-12, and a few adults working toward high school equivalency certificates. There are three tracks: academic skills, exam preparation and subject matter tutoring.

The first track concentrates on reading, math, writing and study skills for grades K-12. The students are trying to get caught up or, in some cases, get ahead and move into an accelerated track in school, she said.

Exam preparation provides one-on-one instruction for students preparing for college entrance examinations, military placement tests, the high school equivalency (TASC) exam, and Common Core exams. It is a Common Core-aligned center, she said, with a curriculum that tracks Common Core standards. Time is also devoted to test-taking strategies and techniques to minimize test anxiety and stress.

Rose Miller is the president of Pinnacle Human Resources LLC.

Courtesy Pinnacle Human Resources LLC

By Rose Miller

Many businesses have incorporated a less formal dress code and everyone agrees that dress in general has expanded to incorporate a wider variety of acceptable attire. Talk to the business owners who sells suits and they will tell how things have changed.

This fact lead many to believe that image doesn’t matter anymore and that is far from the truth. The real fact is our actions and motives are constantly being scrutinized by others. If you doubt it, tell me the last time you saw an ad, the cover of a book or a Facebook post where you didn’t make judgments about the person based on what you saw. Now, be honest.

People are constantly observing your behavior, including how you dress and forming theories about your competence, character and commitment based on the image you send out to the world. So it’s only wise to add your voice in framing other’s theories about who you are and what you accomplish. Basically you want to strategically present yourself in a way that communicates your desired professional image.

Michelle Mitchell, owner of M&M Consulting, expanded her business to Saratoga County.

Courtesy The Saratogian

By Maureen Werther

Michelle Mitchell, owner of M&M Consulting, grew her business drawing on years of experience, first as a member of the armed forces and, later, working for engineering and computer technology companies that serviced the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

After serving her country as a member of the Air Force during the mid-1980s, Mitchell worked for a time in Germany for a computer company before returning to continue her career back in the states. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, she continued in the field of computers and computer technology, working in downstate New York as inside sales and support for her company’s engineering team.

She then moved on to become a component engineering consultant, where she was, in effect, the “gatekeeper,” managing the acquisition of highly specialized parts for submarine assemblies and other military equipment and components.

During this time, Mitchell began to develop the ideas for a consulting business.

“I knew a lot of people from my years in the armed services and in business,” she said. When engineers she knew from work got laid off, she began helping them by rewriting their resumes and helping to connect them with other companies.

President Merodie Hancock and Alec Meiklejohn presented Joan Johnsen, center, with the 2016 Empire State College Foundation for Excellence Award in Professional Service.

Courtesy Empire State College

Joan Johnsen, director of academic review for the Northeast region of SUNY Empire State College,has received the Empire State College Foundation Award for Excellence in Professional Service.

Johnsen received her award at the annual All College Conference held in Saratoga Springs at the end of March.

In announcing the award, last year’s recipient Alec Meiklejohn said Johnsen “has worn many hats in the past 10 years at the college and actively participates in a number of collegewide initiatives and committees outside the scope of her own work. With great attention to detail and a deep knowledge of college policies, she excels in her service to students and works with her colleagues across the college.”

“President Hancock told me she could feel my heart beating,” said Johnsen, upon receiving the award. “It is the students that inspire my work. I feel that it is the students who do the hardest work.”