Five Districts Named Schools of Distinction
By KRISTIAN CONNOLLY
OTSEGO COUNTY
Gilbertsville-Mount Upton Central, Otsego Area Occupational Center, Owen D. Young Central, Richfield Springs Central and Worcester Central were all recently recognized as “2023-24 Schools of Distinction” by the nonprofit organization CFES Brilliant Pathways, which helps students from underserved districts achieve academic and career success.
According to a CFES Brilliant Pathways news release, the five local schools were among 34 in the U.S. and Ireland that achieved the 2023-24 honor “for exemplary work in preparing their students for college and rewarding careers.”
Gilbertsville-Mount Upton, OAOC, Richfield Springs and Worcester were named CFES Brilliant Pathways Schools of Distinction last year as well.
CFES Brilliant Pathways was formed in 1991, and is based in Essex, New York, on the western edge of Lake Champlain. According to the organization’s website, “President and CEO Rick Dalton has been devoted to increasing access to higher education for decades. That mission began as a boy, when he saw how barriers to college stopped dreams in their tracks.”
Of additional local interest, a 2023 news release from CFES Brilliant Pathways says that “The Clark Foundation in Cooperstown underwrote Rick’s initial efforts with upstate New York rural schools and remains a regular donor to CFES, [which] now works with 200 under-resourced rural and urban schools in 17 states.”
The Otsego Area Occupational Center, one of the 2023-24 award recipients, notes on its website that “OAOC is involved with the Leatherstocking Chapter of CFES. This chapter is sponsored by The Clark Foundation.”
Also of local note regarding CFES Brilliant Pathways, which now reports that it works in 20 states and Ireland: The organization’s current chair of the Board of Directors is J. Bart Morrison, the former director of the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown and a former assistant executive director at The Clark Foundation. Morrison, who led the Clark Sports Center from 1990-99, including during the transition in name from the ACC Gymnasium to its current moniker, is now an associate professor of management at Assumption University in Worcester, Massachusetts.
In making its recent awards announcement, CFES Brilliant Pathways noted that the competitive award given to the five local schools “acknowledges the development and execution of a highly effective, year-long plan available to the entire student body. Ninety percent of students who enter the program from these rural and urban schools go on to college, according to CFES.
“These Schools of Distinction have committed to helping students who might otherwise have lost out on the lifetime of opportunities that college affords,” said Dalton in the release. “Their success, and their students’ success, continue to prove the value of the CFES 10-Point College and Career Readiness Plan, which is built around mentoring, career-building skills and on-site involvement with schools and businesses.”
Schools interested in participating in the CFES college and career readiness program can learn more at brilliantpathways.org.
According to the CFES Brilliant Pathways announcement, Dalton said the organization’s “mission has become more critical as educators emerged from the pandemic facing new challenges, from students whose focus had been interrupted by virtual learning and shifting attitudes about the value of college to rising interest in entrepreneurialism and the coming revolution of Artificial Intelligence.”
Dalton added that the Schools of Distinction have excelled, and created “a culture of college and career readiness that is a foundation for economic development in their regions.”
CFES Brilliant Pathways advises that to become a School of Distinction, a school must fulfill a meticulous and varied set of criteria. These include implementing cutting-edge, school wide programs that advance college and career readiness.