Tell us about yourself!

Mr. Stratton is ASE certified as a Master Automotive Technician, and in Maintenance and Light Repair and Advanced Engine Performance. Mr. Stratton is a co-advisor for SkillsUSA, and also serves as the mechanical contests cluster manager for the NYS SkillsUSA conference.

Mr. Stratton was chosen for the 2018 NACAT/SEMA Award. In 2019, the OHM BOCES was recognized by Tomorrow’s Technician magazine as the top automotive program in the northeast and one of the top 4 high school and post-secondary programs in the nation. Mr. Stratton was named as the 2020 SkillsUSA New York State Advisor of the Year and 2021 SkillsUSA Region 1 Advisor of the Year. In 2022 Mr. Stratton won the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Award for Teaching Excellence.

What is your favorite part of the Future Goals™program? How do you see STEM in the game of hockey?

I like things that apply STEM topics to real life. In our area hockey is very popular and is a great “hook” to get students interested. As the future goals program shows, there is a lot of science involved that is not obvious at first.

If you played hockey, what position would you play and why?

I have played and played defense. I always liked the mental part of playing defense. Defense requires more discipline than most positions. I played most recently at age 65 when a former student invited me to play with his pick-up group.