Contributions to the BOCES Community

I have been fortunate to be a member of the BOCES community for almost four years. I

call myself fortunate because I never expected an amazing second career would come along into

my life! I have been a registered nurse for 30 years and four years ago, I came to BOCES to see

if being an instructor would be something that I would be interested in doing. I truly did not

think that I would ever leave my bedside nursing career, but a wonderful thing happened. I

absolutely fell in love with seeing the journey and connection of students following their

passion! I really enjoyed sharing my knowledge, my past “war” stories of life in the NYC

hospitals, and the fulfillment of caring for my community in our local hospital. I get so much

satisfaction when I witness my students understand a concept and put it all together, even better

when it happens through my lesson planning.

My contribution to the BOCES community is truly from the heart. I want my students to

learn from BOCES but also to feel that they are a part of this awesome community! Many of my

students say to me “Mrs. Murphy, BOCES isn’t like my home school, it’s so much better!”

This community is also made up of excellent and professional colleagues. We collaborate

with each other. When I arrange for a guest speaker, and I feel they may benefit another teacher’s

program, I gladly share with my fellow educators. I still maintain a Per Diem position at

Northern Westchester Hospital which has been very helpful in procuring fellow health

professionals to speak & present to both CNA & New Visions Health programs. I have organized

a Stop the Bleed certification for my students through collaboration with Bob Cuomo, our first

responder/EMT instructor. Bob and I have also worked together in certifying our students in

CPR. I support the Go Gold for Pediatric Cancer every year and have had Ms. Melissa Davis
speak to our classes about childhood cancer. I also helped to coordinate the Annual Blood Drive

here at BOCES, utilizing my students to help recruit, set up, and recover blood donors.

There is a Culture of Kindness that we all encourage, for each other, for the students with

one another. It is a school-wide effort with everyone wearing their Be Kind t-shirts every Friday!

Another wonderful aspect of BOCES as been the Sunshine Club, obviously we haven’t been able

to be together in a while, but before COVID, I did belong to and actively participate in this

hospitality club that met once a month to share a meal and fellowship.

I am happy to use my position as a New Visions Health and Nursing Assisting Instructor

to bring out the best in my students, the best at caring, being a solid and responsible citizen in

this ever-changing world of ours, if I can accomplish that, I think that is one of the most

important contributions to the BOCES community.