This is Part 1 of a three-part summer series visiting with three former major league All-Stars turned sports dads. They offer sports and life advice about how we can make our kids better players, but also how get the most out of athletic experiences with them.

The Career Exploration Day brought student ambassadors from the LoGuidice Educational Center to the intermediate school gymnasium. It was held on May 28 as part of a collaboration between Dunkirk and E2CCB.

Julie Wakelee, Dunkirk City School District counselor, said the event allowed students to experience different career options through hands-on demonstrations and interactions with high schoolers currently enrolled in the different CTE programs at LoGuidice.

“I think one of the things that we do well here is talking about college and those kinds of options. But I think it’s also essential for kids to understand that there are other pathways as well,” Wakelee said.

The following CTE programs, available to juniors and seniors in high school, were highlighted at the Career Exploration Day: Culinary Arts, Cosmetology, Construction Technology, Conservation/Natural Resource Management, Criminal Justice, Automotive Technology, Automotive Body Repair, Small Animal Science, Health Careers, Sports Conditioning & Exercise Science, and Welding/Metal Fabrication.

Alycia Lacki, school counselor at LoGuidice, is pictured with fourth- and fifth-graders at Dunkirk. The event allowed students to experience different career options with high schoolers currently enrolled in the different CTE programs through Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES.

Representatives from WNY P-TECH, including Counselor Nicole Donato, were also present to highlight pathways available to students: Welding Technology, Mechatronics, and Mechanical Technology, with concentrations in Machine Tooling and Computer-Aided Design.

At the table to promote Auto Body Repair, students could use an airbrush to paint a decal onto the hood of a car. At Culinary Arts, they were able to frost pre-made sugar cookies. And at Construction Technology, they took turns hammering nails into pieces of wood.

“I think it’s invaluable for our students to hear from others who are still in school,” Wakelee said. “They get a chance to see that it could be them in just a couple of years. I can stand in front of a class and tell them what these programs are like, but when they see it up close and get some hands-on experience, that’s another thing altogether.”

Intermediate student Guiliana Desmond, 11, said she most enjoyed Cosmetology. “I really like what they are doing with everyone’s hair,” she said. “It looks like a lot of fun.”

Aubrey Kuras, 11, said she enjoyed the Construction Technology table, while Emersyn Krzanowicz, 11, said she most liked Health Careers, where students could listen to their heartbeats using a stethoscope.

Alycia Lacki, school counselor at LoGuidice, has been expanding recruitment efforts for CTE programs over the past couple of years with similar hands-on visits to other area school districts.

“It isn’t always easy for everyone to narrow down a career path that aligns with their personal interests,” Lacki said. “What is nice about taking our Career & Technical Education show on the road is that we have all these fields represented in one place, so the students really get an up-close look at the programs. It’s also nice to see our CTE students really take ownership of the skills they’ve developed and the confidence they’ve gained.”

She added, “The younger students considering attending BOCES really take to heart the advice and encouragement they get from the older students.”

For more information on CTE programs available at E2CCB, visit www.e2ccb.org/programs/career-technical-education/

The Uvalde CISD strength and conditioning program is underway. Open to incoming seventh-grade up to incoming 12th-grade boys and girls, the program runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays at Uvalde High School. The workouts, supervised by UCISD coaches, put prospective Uvalde athletes for the 2025-26 school year through a variety of activities to improve on […]

DULUTH — Bill Punyko extended his arm, smiled and offered words of encouragement as one of thousands of runners took the water-filled paper cup from his hand.

It was one of countless cups Superior’s longtime head swimming coach handed out alongside more than 60 other Spartan volunteers during the 49th annual Grandma’s Marathon on Saturday, June 21.

“We’ve been coming here for around 10 years,” Punyko said. “The purpose is to provide community service. It’s also fun; we’re dancing to music, handing out water, and all of the runners are very grateful for the volunteers.”

The Spartan swim team is one portion of a larger Superior presence that worked mile marker 19 near Lester River in Lakeside. In addition to their athletes, coaches and several parents, Superior also had volunteers from the Lake Superior Youth Chorus.

Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group

Together, Superior’s swimming program and Lake Superior Youth Chorus volunteers — who ranged in age from young children through high school students — operated one of the largest multi-purpose water stations during Grandma’s Marathon this year.

Superior educator and Lake Superior Youth Chorus choir coordinator Elise Sterling said bringing multiple unique aspects of the community together for a day of giving back was a great way to bring everyone closer together.

“It’s a great and super-valuable community builder,” Sterling said. “As an organization, we want to make sure we’re giving back to the community. We have some swim team kids and some non-swim team kids, but we all came together as one group today.”

The Lake Superior Youth Chorus is a Duluth-based nonprofit organization that offers holistic musical education for children living in the Twin Ports. They had more than a dozen volunteers at Grandma’s Marathon on Saturday, including Sterling.

Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group

Whether it was handing drinks to parched runners, continuously filling additional cups or picking up discarded trash, Superior’s volunteers — including roughly two-dozen swimmers — made a positive impact, according to water station captain Susie Burns.

“It’s so amazing,” Burns said. “I just love the groups that we have. This is the first year in a while that the Lake Superior Youth Chorus has volunteered, so we’re super excited to have them here. The swim team is back again, and it’s always great to have them, too.”

Multiple Spartans said giving back to the community is always a rewarding experience, but when surrounded by the fun and festivities of Grandma’s Marathon, it takes the joy to a completely different level.

Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group

Among them is Max Carey, who just finished his junior year with Superior’s swim program. He said Saturday was a fantastic day of community service and that it was an honor to represent Spartan athletics on such a large scale.

“This is my first time volunteering,” Carey said. “We’re helping people, having fun and eating hot dogs, too. It means a lot to be able to get out here and do some community service because I have a lot of pride in our sports and athletes.”

It was an action-packed day that began as early as 5:30 a.m. for many of Superior’s volunteers. They filled thousands of cups and handed them out to a percentage of the thousands of people who raced in either the half or full marathon on Saturday.

Spending time together contributing to the greater good is something Punyko and Carey believe translates far beyond one extremely humid race day in June. For Spartan swimming, it’s a jumping off point that gets the program ready for the upcoming year.

“It’s not just swimming,” Punyko said. “They’re building the bonds you need for when things get hard during the year. They’re going to have to rely on each other, trust each other and have relationships. This is the first step in coming together for next year.”

Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group

The Spartans swimming program has been volunteering for essentially a decade, but this year was the Lake Superior Youth Chorus’ return to Grandma’s Marathon after a couple of summers away.

Sterling said Saturday was a perfect return to Minnesota’s largest and oldest marathon, and that she hopes it’s the genesis of a lengthy run of the Lake Superior Youth Chorus volunteering again at a truly historic event.

“The fact that they wanted to include us, that’s really cool,” Sterling said. “We were like, ‘Of course we will be there to help, even if there are just 12 of us.’ This was exciting, and it’s something I think we will definitely continue.”

Reagan Hoverman joined the Duluth News Tribune as a sports reporter in July 2023 after spending the better part of two years covering a variety of prep and collegiate sports at the Pierce County Journal in Ellsworth, Wis. Before that, he was a news and sports reporter at the Inter-County Leader in Frederic, Wis.