Canton Technology College (CTC)

Well, hello again. It’s so nice that you’re back and hopefully enjoying the blog. I can honestly say it was so worthwhile to take another glimpse of Lake Placid before departing on the 71 mile journey to Carton Technology College (CTC). I drove through some beautiful places including Saint Regis Falls and Potsdam, and with the glowing Fall colours, the drive was extremely relaxing and easy on the eye.

CTC is located in a rural location not far from the urban area in Canton, New York State. The Saint Lawrence River and major Canadian cities such as Ottawa and Montreal are close by. Originally CTC was founded as a School of Agriculture and then transitioned to a college of technology in the mid eighties.

CTC offers a number of bachelor degrees, associate degrees, and one-year certificate programs and is ranked the highest online learning college in the SUNY system. CTC is made up of the three academic schools they include, Business and Liberal Arts, Engineering Technology and Science, Health & Public Service.

I arrived at CTC around mid morning and right in the middle of a celebration. CTC’s came together with cake, ice cream, soda and dozens of balloons to commemorate the anniversary of their President Joseph Kennedy as the longest serving President (17 years) in the SUNY system. After sampling some of the treats it was then down to business.

However, there was one question I needed to ask before the research questions and that is, "why do CTC have a Kangaroo as a mascot?" The college mascot is an appropriate reflection of CTC’s uncompromising progress, kangaroos can only move forwards, not backwards. It also mirrors CTC’s global approach toward education. While many people consider Kangaroos to be cute and friendly-looking, they are actually fiercely competitive and aggressive. CTC identified with those characteristics.

With CTC’s tremendously successful distance learning efforts, their programs can be found around the world. The college is not limited by geographical boundaries and have students in the Ukraine, Russia, and Japan. I wouldn't be surprised in the near future students from home will enrol at CTC.

I started wading through the research questions with back-to-back interviews until 6.30 pm and it was enough time to rest my wary road-trip legs. But it wasn’t for long and it was back to my adventure with a long 120 mile (2 ¾ hour) drive home to Oswego. Of course this wasn’t going to be easy because I had to be mindful of deer. I arrived home safely around 9.00pm and started to prepare for tomorrow’s visit to Cayuga and Onondaga Board of Co-operation Services (BOCES). I slept well that night.

Talk again soon.
Mark