New Jersey
New Jersey vo-tech schools expand AI career pathways – NJBIZ
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The basics:
- NJ vo-tech schools launch AI and robotics career pathways
- Mercer, Middlesex and Burlington schools partner with TCNJ, Kean and industry leaders
- Programs emphasize ethical AI use, industry credentials and real-world projects
- Districtwide initiatives train educators to integrate AI across all career programs
As artificial intelligence reshapes the global economy, New Jersey’s county vocational-technical schools are embracing a unique challenge. The schools are helping staff use AI as administrative and teaching tools as well as integrating the technology throughout their various career programs. Such broad awareness is essential among the schools that prepare students for a range of future career endeavors, from construction trades to the health sciences and even AI itself.
In early 2025, the New Jersey Department of Education awarded Mercer County Technical Schools and Middlesex County Magnet Schools each an “Expanding Career Pathways in Artificial Intelligence” grant. The funding was established to expand the state’s career and technical education (CTE) pathways to include new programs that blend AI and robotics.
Mercer County Technical Schools leveraged funding to partner with the Engineering and Computer Science departments at The College of New Jersey. The collaboration resulted in the launch of a three-course CTE sequence that is the foundation of the school’s new AI and Robotics program, with each of the courses offering students dual enrollment with TCNJ.
Charles Powell, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction at MCTS, said the grant supported a thoughtfully developed program that is “rigorous, relevant and directly connected to industry needs.” In addition to the professors at TCNJ, the school tapped industry experts to weigh in on the curriculum.
Curriculum development
“We simply could not have built a future-proof curriculum without deep partnerships,” Powell noted. “We collaborated with several incredible businesses and professionals who provided essential input on everything from course content to identifying industry-valued credentials (IVCs).”
Key partners have included: Moonbird.Ai; Nagy Group – MagicEdX.ai; QiMeta; and Croda, a global specialty chemical company, demonstrating AI’s broad reach beyond just tech companies.
“Professionals from these businesses helped us identify the critical knowledge gaps and future skill demands. Based on their feedback, we also selected the certifications students would pursue to ensure they graduate with credentials that are immediately valuable to employers,” Powell added.
In just their first year, MCTS AI and Robotics students can participate in the Certified Artificial Intelligence Prefect certification program. The course provides a strong foundation in AI, robotics, machine learning, deep learning, augmented and virtual reality, and Python programming. This certification equips students with the skills needed for future coursework, internships and emerging careers in AI-related fields. Students concurrently enroll in Computer Science Principles, where they explore computational thinking, data analysis, algorithms and programming, enhancing their problem-solving abilities through hands-on projects, digital portfolio creation and an in-depth understanding of computing’s impact on society.
Partners in AI
Middlesex County Magnet Schools also relied on strategic partnerships to develop a new AI and Robotics program. MCMS Director of Career and Technical Education Lee Neamand wrote the curriculum with feedback from HP, SHI and MRA International professionals. She also worked closely with Kean University’s Patricia Morreale, professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science and Technology, to focus the curriculum around the ethical and responsible use of AI.
They focused on five ethical principles: AI enhances rather than replaces human teaching and learning; educators and students maintain agency and control; AI use is transparent and explainable; student data is protected; and AI tools promote equity and access for all learners.
“AI should be a thought partner, never a substitute for critical thinking,” explained Neamand. “Using AI without critical evaluation perpetuates biases and inaccuracies. Students need both technical skills and ethical literacy.”
AI should be a thought partner, never a substitute for critical thinking.
– Lee Neamand, MCMS director of Career and Technical Education
Neamand said that the program would fail students if it simply taught them how to use AI tools and focused too much on tasks that will become automated. She emphasized, “We’re preparing students for the jobs of the future; we’re teaching them how to create AI, manipulate AI and solve problems using AI.”
Solving problems
As students progress through the program to complete four years of high school, they will finish with a capstone project that challenges them to identify a problem in the community and use AI to solve it in a systemic way. Neamand said this type of coursework can prepare students to make a real impact in their community. She offered the example of how AI tools have increasingly been used to detect cell deformity before humans can see it.
MCMS students will further benefit from opportunities throughout the program to learn from industry experts with support from an Advisory Committee that formed organically as Neamand sought input on the curriculum.
“Through these experiences, students will collaborate on real-world AI projects with business partners, allowing them to practice their technical skills and business application,” explained MCMS Superintendent Jorge Diaz. “This collaboration creates meaningful career pathways, connecting our AI-literate students with employers seeking their skills while ensuring all students, regardless of labels and zip codes, have access to emerging tech opportunities.”
Industry feedback
MCMS also will look to these business partners and its advisory committee to provide timely feedback on students’ knowledge and level of preparedness to guide program adjustments.
“Relevance is our biggest challenge moving into the future, but it’s one we planned for,” said Powell of Mercer’s AI and Robotics program. “We also established a CTE Program Advisory Committee for our Artificial Intelligence program with our business partners and TCNJ faculty. This Advisory Committee will meet on an ongoing basis to review new advancements in AI, share best practices and constantly provide recommendations to update the curriculum materials. By formalizing this feedback loop with both academia and industry, we ensure our curriculum is reflecting the state-of-the-art industry needs and preparing students not just for today’s jobs, but for the jobs of tomorrow.”
Not just for students
Powell said developing the new AI and Robotics program has prompted the district as a whole to examine its own use of AI. Starting last spring, MCTS implemented AI professional development for all instructional staff and recently completed a District Approved Policy on Acceptable Use.
“This ensures that the responsible and ethical use of AI is woven into every classroom, not just the CTE program,” Powell emphasized.
Burlington County Institute of Technology has emerged as a leader among New Jersey’s county vocational-technical schools in preparing staff for using AI professionally. At the start of this school year, BCIT launched a districtwide AI Task Force made up of educators, administrators, students and industry partners. Led by Director of Curriculum and Instruction Danielle Hartman, the group takes on a range of AI-related topics involving ethics, guidelines for use in the classroom, district policy development, and best practices for both administrative and instructional use.
“We want to help our colleagues leverage this technology as a thought partner and also a time-saver,” explained Hartman.
BCIT recently held a full day of professional development for staff led by Thomas Semko, a talent development expert, education consultant and adjunct professor at The College of New Jersey. This latest training focused on prompt engineering, guiding instructors on creating prompts using Chat GPT or Gemini to produce impactful learning opportunities for students.
Spanning industries
Hartman explained that a plumbing instructor may prompt AI to simulate a problem in the field that a student needs to troubleshoot. The instructor can input a plumbing codebook to give the AI tool specific information to pull from when both creating the problem and evaluating the student’s solution. Instructors may also prompt the AI tool to quiz students on an input codebook or safety manual.
BCIT Assistant Superintendent Eder Joseph said the district’s focus on training staff to use AI is strategic: Instructors must first become adept at using AI before they present it as another tool for students to use in their chosen career.
“Even masonry is using AI now to simulate what a job will look like before one brick is even put into place,” Joseph said.
He added, “AI will impact many of our career programs and also will change the programs we offer here at BCIT. Some careers may become obsolete, while others emerge. We’ll constantly evaluate our program offerings and how we teach these programs to best support our students.”
Ashanti Holley, superintendent of BCIT, added, “Artificial intelligence is redefining how the world learns and works, and leadership will determine whether that future creates broader access or deeper divides. At BCIT, we lead with intention and clarity so that technology expands possibilities, strengthens human potential and positions every student for meaningful success in a rapidly changing world.”
Jackie Burke is executive director of the New Jersey Council of County Vocational-Technical Schools.
New Jersey
Newly released body cam footage shows response to massive industrial explosion in Gloucester County
LOGAN TWP., N.J. (WPVI) — Newly released body camera footage gives us a first look at the heroic actions of first responders on the scene of a massive industrial explosion in Gloucester County earlier this month.
The explosion happened at an industrial facility in Logan Township, New Jersey, on March 4 and left several workers injured.
The initial blast could be heard miles away.
Now, we are getting a look at the frantic rush to help in the moments after it happened.
New details released after massive explosion at Logan Twp., New Jersey factory
In the footage, you can hear the police officers frantically trying to locate people who were injured by the blast at Savita Naturals.
Large propane tanks burned in the background as rescuers tried to account for any survivors.
At one point, first responders are seen running inside the building to look for people. You can see damaged walls and debris everywhere.
Four people were injured in the blast, with one of them being thrown off the roof and into the woods near the water tower.
Amazingly, the worker was found alive by a fence. He was badly burned, but able to talk.
First responders had to load him in a truck and get him to the road, where a Logan Township officer tried to keep him calm as they waited for an ambulance.
Body cam video shows an officer calling the man’s wife to let her know he was alive.
That officer stayed by his side until he was finally loaded into a police car and rushed to the hospital.
The cause of the explosion remains under investigation.
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
How hunters in NJ are helping feed the hungry, food pantries
See how hunters in New Jersey are working with food pantries to help feed the hungry in the state.
For more than 25 years, hunters around the Garden State have been making a difference by working with Hunters Helping the Hungry, a nonprofit organization that raises money and coordinates the efforts of hunters, butchers, and food banks throughout New Jersey to help put food on the table for those in need.
The program began during the 1997/1998 hunting season, a result of the efforts of three Hunterdon County hunters along with help from a butcher named John Person and Kathy Rummel, the director at the time of Norwescap.
“We started out 25 years ago just as hunters, you know, wanting to go out and get some extra deer. New Jersey had very liberal deer quotas and bag limits. You could get unlimited does,” said Lester Giese, one of the founders of Hunters Helping the Hungry. “I was on a trip, and I was going through West Virginia, and I saw at one of the gas stations a brochure for Hunters Helping the Hungry. I picked up the brochure and looked at it and said, ‘What a great idea.’ When I got back, as it turned out, the state legislature just recently passed a law to allow venison donations.”
Five deer were donated during that first season, according to Giese. Today, the organization averages about 1,000 donations per year, which amounts to between 23,000 and 28,000 pounds of venison, he said.
Overall, since the program’s inception, Hunters Helping the Hungry has facilitated the donation of nearly 2.5 million servings of venison.
While the program originally started as a way to assist hunters who could harvest more deer than they could use, the organization’s mission has expanded. According to its website, Hunters Helping the Hungry currently aims to:
- Continue paying butchering costs for hunters who are able to take more deer than they can use;
- Support municipal and private property owners that pay for the butchering process directly while they attempt to reduce the deer population on their property;
- And set aside a portion of grants from the state Department of Agriculture to support and pay for the butchering of deer taken by farmers and their agents during depredation hunts.
These efforts ultimately help New Jersey’s food bank system and provide a source of protein to those in need, while also keeping the state’s deer herd in check
“So, kind of a nutshell, we started out just a small group of us with a small focus,” Giese said. “And now we’re trying to do a lot of things for a lot of people.”
The process: From forest to food pantry
In New Jersey the deer hunting season runs from the second week of September through the second week of February. According to Hunters Helping the Hungry board member Mark Charbonneau, this is one of the longest hunting seasons in the United States.
Hunters who want to make a donation bring their legally harvested deer to one of the state-inspected butchers that partner with the organization. Processing fees are paid to the butcher by Hunters Helping the Hungry from a fund consisting of donations and grants.
The butcher processes the deer at no cost to the hunter and gives it to one of the participating food banks, such as Norwescap, which partners with pantries in Warren, Sussex, and Hunterdon counties.
Venison issued to the food banks is distributed to over 400 charities around the state.
Although New Jersey’s deer hunting season starts in the fall, Charbonneau, a board member of about 20 years and a hunter of about 40, says that the process starts well beforehand.
“The process actually starts before hunting season starts. What I mean by that is hunters will start scouting certain locations to be able to know where deer are, to be able to prepare to harvest them legally and as ethically and quickly as possible,” said Charbonneau, adding that less than 2% of the New Jersey population are deer hunters.
Charbonneau continued, “So when you start that process of scouting areas, setting up your locations, then going afield, then harvesting your game, then removing your game from the field, then field dressing it properly, then bringing it to a butcher, then making that donation, there’s a lot of steps involved and there’s a lot of time involved.”
JB Person, an Hunters Helping the Hungry board member and the owner of GameButcher in Lebanon, is one of several participating butchers that process the donated deer.
“What the hunters do is come here, they have to fill out some paperwork, and along with the paperwork we request they also fill out a donation slip. They donate the whole deer,” Person said. “What we do is skin it and process it into various cuts – roast, steak, chops, and ground meat. Everything is cut, wrapped, and frozen and then when we have a bunch ready to go, I get in touch with Norwescap and then they come and pick it up.”
Game Butchers averages between 150 and 200 donated deer per year, according to Person, who added that Hunters Helping the hungry is “in desperate need of butchers.”
How to donate deer to Hunters Helping the Hungry
Hunters looking to make a donation can take their legally harvested deer to any of the participating butchers listed on the Hunters Helping the Hungry website.
Once the required forms have been filled out, the butcher will process the deer. The food bank will then pick up the processed deer from the butcher and distribute the frozen venison to various food pantries, emergency shelters, churches, etc.
If the dressed weight of the deer is more than 50 pounds, Hunters Helping the Hungry will pay the entire processing fee, according to the organization’s website. If the dressed weight of the deer is less than 50 pounds, the hunter will be required to pay the first $50 of the processing fee.
Throughout the 2025/2026 hunting season, a total of 802 deer were donated to Hunters Helping the Hungry. This amounts to 26,846 pounds of venison which yields 107,384 servings.
“The number one thing that people need to know about our organization is that the hunters of the great state of New Jersey are the reason for our success,” Charbonneau said. “The hunters have taken it upon themselves in the great state of New Jersey to go afield every year and harvest game to help those not as fortunate as most.”
For additional information about Hunters Helping the Hungry and how you can donate and/or get involved as a hunter or a butcher, visit the organization’s website at https://www.huntershelpingthehungry.org/.
New Jersey
‘Hard to see’: Jersey Shore town to tear down lifeguard building before it collapses from erosion
The flooring is getting saved from Strathmere’s Beach Patrol headquarters but the building has reached its breaking point as extreme erosion left the 20 year old landmark literally on the edge.
Officials say that the building is in imminent danger of collapse into the ocean after winter storm-driven waves stripped away massive amounts of sand.
“It’s sad. It’s been here for a while,” Dave Pennello, of Upper Township Publics Works, said.
Pilings are now exposed and the building’s foundation is at risk so the township is planning to tear it down.
“The only way we could do it is spending $125,000 to try and reinforce that but there’s no guarantee that the erosion wouldn’t get worse to basically make that totally obsolete,” Upper Township Committee member Sam Palombo said. “As someone that worked at Upper Township Beach Patrol, it’s hard to see, honestly.”
The lifeguards in Strathmere will be temporarily working out of a leased modular trailer.
“My son-in-law is a lifeguard here every year. He’s one of the captains and they got a call the other day that said, ‘Get to the shack and get the stuff out of it,’” Estell Manor resident Bobbie Kenny said.
Uncertainty over beach replenishment funding
Beaches in several Jersey Shore towns are in rough shape after our harsh winter.
Uncertainty over funding for repairs and replenishment from the federal government is adding to concerns.
“It’s incredibly worrying. I mean, we’re out of time,” Upper Township Committee member Sam Palombo said. “After spring, it’s summer and everyone’s going to be down here.”
A spokesperson for the US Army Corps of Engineers told NBC10 that the agency hasn’t gotten any updates about funding for beach projects, so they’re unable to provide any information on potential timetables.
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