fall-winter newsletter 2009
TRANSCRIPT
FALL/WINTER NEWSLETTER 2009
Greetings from Mary Ellen Arce, Admissions Coordinator
As the holidays approach and we begin to worry about friends, families, gifts, get-togethers,
etc., life can get rather overwhelming. Although this is the time of year that we tend to
reach out and help others, remember that the best gift you can give is a gift to yourself. It
is a gift that is truly special and worth its weight in gold. It is affordable, it does not need
gift wrap, you will have it forever, and it will never go out of style. How about changing
your life? Taking the bull by the horns and finally doing something that you love and that
will allow you the opportunity to make a six-figure salary. That’s right, a new career for
you! It is quite evident that many of you are feeling the need for change, as our January
2010 class is beginning to fill as rapidly as it did last year. A new year, a new career, and
StenoTech is proud to be part of all of your achievements and New Year’s resolutions!
The next few months are going to fly by and January will be here before we know it. If you
are not yet convinced that court reporting is virtually recession-proof and the way to a six-
income salary, then check out our open house and hear it from people actually working in
the industry. If you have already done your research and are ready to embark on the
career of a lifetime, then please contact me ASAP. Space is limited. Our September classes
were at maximum capacity; and while we are currently working on expansion plans,
January’s classes will definitely be on a first-come/first-served basis. The application
deadline is January 18th. That means that all students must have applied and tested by this
date. I hope to hear from you!
On behalf of myself and the entire staff of StenoTech Career Institute, I am
wishing a happy and healthy holiday season to you and yours.
New Teacher on Campus Financial Aid Updates
StenoTech
would like to
welcome a new
member to our
staff. Rosemary
Hilbert has been
involved in education both as a
professor and as the Assistant
Education Director of Business
Operations for Eastwick College. She
holds both a bachelor of arts degree
in English Literature and a master of
arts degree in Liberal Studies from
Caldwell College in Caldwell, New
Jersey. Rosemary is a member of
many professional associations and
has participated in numerous
training seminars, including PCSA’s
Educational Approaches of the 21st
Century. She is also a certified EMT
and was awarded the Richard
Freeman Academic Achievement
Award for attaining the highest grade
in the class on the New Jersey OEMS
state certification exam. Rosemary
will join StenoTech as an academic
instructor at both campuses, teaching
keyboarding, English courses,
medical and legal terminology.
Welcome, Ms. Hilbert. We are
delighted to have you on board!
Our September start was a huge
success with almost 60 new
students enrolling! Our “newbies”
are catching on quickly and appear
to be loving every minute of their
new endeavour. If you happen to
have missed the September start,
just remember that January is right
around the corner. Please keep in
mind that one of the key benefits to
starting in January is that it means
more financial aid!! Students who
are eligible for Pell grants will
receive the full award even though
the financial aid year ends in June.
The Department of Education has
also increased the loan amounts for
all grade levels by $2000 per
student. This is good news for all
“independent” students who are not
eligible for Pell grants. Even without
the assistance of grants, students
who qualify for financial aid will find
that their tuition will be covered by
federal loans.
To obtain more detailed
information, contact
Jean Diamond, FAA, at
our main campus
(888-783-6685).
FAIRFIELD CAMPUS NEWS
Graduate Update
Graduate Jessica Loschky recently emailed president and campus director, Jean Melone,
with some exciting news:
Hi Jean, how are you?! I'm
doing well. I wanted to
share my experience with
you that I had yesterday
with court reporting. I
thought you would
appreciate it.
I work in Philadelphia now. I
had a job at the National
Constitution Center. I had to
report a board meeting,
chairman being President
Clinton! It was a board of maybe 30 members, all of which were senators, governors,
lawyers, judges, bankers. That evening the Liberty Medal was awarded to Steven
Spielberg. I had to report the ceremony. Whoopi Goldberg was there. It was truly an
amazing experience that I wanted to share with you since you, the teachers, and your
wonderful school are the reason I got to experience something like this. Thank you so
much!! You're appreciated more than you know. I attached a picture!!
The other two gentlemen in the picture are Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania and
Dikembe Mutombo. He is a retired basketball player that played for the Nets, 76ers, and
Rockets. He was one of the board members. Haha! I don't think I need to point out in
the picture which one is which. And, no, he wasn't standing on anything! I had heels on,
too. I was afraid his head didn't get in the picture. : )
I'm working for Varallo, Incorporated. Have you heard of them? They're in Philly. I love
this agency. It's a family-owned agency for 50 years. They keep me very busy with great
work, not like this usually. I'm so grateful that they asked me to do this job.
Marc Goldberg was the featured speaker at a recent party honoring graduates and “level-uppers.” Marc is a StenoTech graduate and director of sales at the Veritext firm of Doerner & Goldberg, a court reporting agency established by Marc’s dad in the early ’70s. In addition to sharing his personal experiences as both a student and working reporter, Marc gave the students some valuable tips and kept the comments lively and humorous.
The following students were recognized for leveling up since June:
To 125 wpm To 175 wpm Travis Fagan Mona Lieberman
Charity McKinnon Christian Salazar Lindsay Pong
Eileen Sien To 200 wpm Deneé Vadell Lynn Forrest
To 225 wpm
To 150 wpm Lynore D’Ambrosio Lisa Graziano Candice Galarza
Denise Iradi
StenEd certificates of achievement were presented to the following students from our January and May classes who have now successfully completed theory and passed their 60 Literary Test: Susan Barsky, Vivian Bratmeyer, Carolyn Crescio, Jill Evans, and Darlene Makula. We wish them “happy fingers” on their journey to 225!!!
The entire StenoTech teaching staff – and especially Mrs. O’Hagan – want to recognize the
efforts of Susan Barsky, of our May 2009 theory class, for her many hours of data entry of
steno outline updates to the Eclipse Lesson Player tutorial software used by theory
students. They comprise modifications to our realtime theory that have been developed
and tested over the past five years by JoAnn Haberkorn, Piscataway theory instructor. Now
both campuses are uniformly providing theory instruction that incorporates these changes,
and students have the benefit of their use when doing theory reinforcement drills. We
thank Susan for her dedication and perfectionism in completing this laborious task.
Our “Trish” Pucciarello is now a working freelance reporter. Trish says she’s really busy
and absolutely loves her work. We honored Trish at our most recent level-up party. In the
audience were Trish’s dad and sister, beaming with pride as she shared her recent on-the-
job experiences as a new reporter. Two thumbs up for a young lady who never gave up in
turning her dreams into reality!!
Cudos to Lynore D’Ambrosio, who has made tremendous progress. StenoTech’s self-paced
program allowed her to return to court reporting studies after several years of raising a
family, absorbing our “realtime” theory as part of the September 2008 theory class, and
then doing a hop-skip-and-jump through 5 speed levels to arrive at the 225 doorstep in a
year’s time.
Many current and former students sat for the November 7th RPR exam, given at both
Fairfield and Piscataway campuses. We wish them all good results!
Good luck to our moms-to-be, Denee Vadell and Patrice Randall, who will
hopefully be back in the seat soon after a brief maternity leave.
Speaking of babies … our director, Jean Melone, is delighted to announce the birth of her
second grandchild, who surprised everyone with an early arrival on October 1st. Jake is the
son of Mrs. Melone’s daughter, Jennifer, who just celebrated her first wedding anniversary
on October 5th! He joins his little cousin Jason Jr., who is almost 19 months old. The
Melones have much to be thankful for this holiday season. And Mrs. Melone is now doing a
super juggling act as dedicated school owner, part-time instructor, loving wife, always-
available mom, and doting grandma…and enjoying every minute of the challenge!
PISCATAWAY CAMPUS NEWS
As always, there is lots of hustle and bustle in Piscataway… and entertainment also. Who would think? You might actually attend school for court reporting and become an American Idol as well! JoAnn Haberkorn is the director of our Piscataway campus and believes the students should work hard and have fun as well. The first round of lunchtime entertainment was scheduled for November 18th,. All students were encouraged to come out and perform, and the results will be out in our next newsletter. At this writing, Jonathan Haldelman is scheduled to play guitar, Donna Carotenuto will be performing her vocal rendition of Tina Turner’s Private Dancer, Ketly Dorelus will be baton-twirling, and Jonathon Shambaugh will be doing his juggling act. Calling all talent…. bring it on!! Let’s see what ‘ya got!
Congratulations to all of our Halloween door-decorating contest winners:
First Place:
Room 102 VR-Prep & VR-I
Second Place:
Room 103 Theory
Honorable Mention:
Room 101 – VR-II
Room 105 – VR-IV, V
Best Costume:
Sydney Crawford, dressed as a
McDonald’s shake.
Mrs. Haberkorn is not only the director of the campus but is also the theory instructor. Each week she holds a “readback” contest. Any student who can read back the selected piece correctly without error receives a free pack of steno paper. The first two winners were Nechama Benjamin and Stephanie McElroy, who gave perfect readbacks at 40 and 60 wpm. Keep up the practice, theory students!
HOLIDAY / STUDENT APPRECIATION PARTIES
Piscataway Campus: Tuesday, December 15, at 10:30 a.m.
Fairfield Campus:
Thursday, December 17, at 11:15 a.m. Guest speaker: Lauren Schecter, CSR and Owner of TotalCaption
GRADUATES ARE INVITED – PLEASE RSVP BY MONDAY, DEC. 14
DECEMBER OPEN HOUSES Please join us for our Winter Open House this December. If you have not already received an invite, please use the form below. Our open houses are informative and fun. Guest speakers will share their insight with you as well give a short realtime presentation. We look forward to seeing you!
Please Join Us
for our
Winter Open House
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
6:30 p.m.
StenoTech Career Institute
Fairfield Campus
20 Just Road - 2nd
Floor
Fairfield, NJ 07004
Thursday, December 10, 2009
6:30 p.m.
StenoTech Career Institute
Piscataway Campus
262 Old New Brunswick Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854
To reserve a seat for you and a guest, please call Mary Ellen Arce at (888) 783-6685
Forms may be faxed to (973) 882-6101 *****Light refreshments to be served*****
(You can enter your information below and fax to the number above)
Name of Candidate:
Contact Phone: ( )
Number of Guests:
Guest Name(s):
I will attend the open house at the following campus:
Fairfield Piscataway
Program of Interest (“x” all that apply):
Realtime Court Reporting Court Reporter Scoping
Medical Transcription Medical Text Entry