|
Nicki Pidgeon Off
on the "Great Adventure"
|
|
 It is the thing we all work toward:
Retirement! And Nicki opened the door to
the "great adventure" on July
19th with a surprise farewell luncheon hosted by Continuing
Education staff and attended by more than 50 well-wishers.
Unlike the typical cake and coffee "retiree wakes" (as Nicki
calls them), her luncheon featured Italian main dishes, delicacies, and
desserts prepared by staff members. In addition, her SCCC family of friends
gave her a special gift certificate to Proctors. Attending shows here
is one of her favorite leisure activities. |
|
Nicki came to SCCC as the College's first Director of Business and Industry Training in September, 1989. Her position, as directed by then President Peter Burnham, was to fulfill the College's mission to serve the training needs of local businesses. Among her first assignments was to serve on a task force to retrain dislocated workers, when GE downsized its workforce by 3600 people. Over the years, Nicki developed numerous training opportunities for both small and large companies - one of the most memorable was to re-train the entire staff of Knolls Atomic Power Labs as they migrated from the use of DOS to Windows. Also, Nicki's knowledge of the social services system led the College to develop and implement special programs for underserved populations within Schenectady County. Among Nicki's hallmarks are Programa Escaleras, an award winning program which served single-parent Hispanic women until 1998; Achieve, which serves out of school youth; Bridge, which serves TANF eligible consumers; the Displaced Homemakers Program, which is accomplished in collaboration with Schenectady Community Action Program; and the Tier GED program, an adult education initiative granted Tier I recognition by the US Army and the Air Force. These programs continue to generate significant numbers of remedial FTE's for the College and play a role in maintaining a strong College budget during challenging times. |
 Beyond
her successful programs at SCCC, Nicki was highly active in the community,
where she served as Chairperson of Gateway,
an initiative sponsored by Governor Cuomo, which sought to end competition
and duplication of services by human services agencies. She also served
on the Board of Jobs, Etc.; the Policy Board of the Capital District Adult
Education Professional Development Consortium; the Board of Directors
of Literacy Volunteers; the Advisory Board of the World Trade Council;
and the Schenectady County One Stop's Local Partners Table. |
Nicki will long be remembered for making the workplace
a nice place to be. Her gentle manner, her humor, and her care for each
staff member as an individual made her special to all of us. 
She will also be remembered for surprising us with bags of Perreca's bread,
Civitello's Italian Ice, bags of cannoli's, sfogliatelle's, danishes,
and wildly delicious pizza. |
|
However, as much as we will miss Nicki, we wish her a long, happy, and healthy retirement. It has been well-earned and it is well-deserved. Caio, Comadre! Thanks for everything you did for us! |