Vaughn College held its first interactive open house today at its campus in Flushing, NY. Students attended with their families and friends to learn more about the programs offered by the College and determine whether Vaughn was a good fit for them.

One student visiting his family from the Dominican Republic found Vaughn College online and decided to attend the open house. “I currently have a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management and administration but would like to obtain another degree. I have always loved airports and traveling and that’s what attracted me to Vaughn,” commented Raynier Francisco Reinoso Reyes. “After today, my hope is to begin studying airport management at Vaughn this summer.”

The open house consisted of presentations by professors in each department followed by hands-on interactive experiences to see what it would actually be like to attend classes at Vaughn.  Many attendees commented on the fact that this was quite a different and pleasant experience compared to other open houses they’d been to.

Students and families who attended the informative session on the air traffic control (ATC) courses were impressed to see the new ATC simulator laboratory where students are trained on the same airport and airspace used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Academy.

Sal DeRose, who currently attends Rhinebeck high school in Westchester, had the following to say, “I am very interested in studying air traffic control and Vaughn’s program offerings and ideal location made it my first choice for attending college. I’m very happy with what I’ve seen here today.”

There was also tremendous interest in the College’s engineering offerings as evidenced by the full room of listeners presented to by the engineering faculty. Vaughn had recently gone through a review by the Accrediting Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) and Dr. Hossein Rahemi, engineering and technology department chair was pleased to share the results with the crowd. “We are incredibly excited to announce that in September we received ABET reaccreditation for all of our engineering technology programs and for the first time, our mechatronic engineering program was accredited retroactively to include all program graduates.”

In addition, all of the faculty and staff were ecstatic to be able to showcase the newly renovated and upgraded campus at the first open house since construction has been completed. According to Ernie Shepelsky, vice president of enrollment, “We are very proud of the improvements that have been made throughout the main building and can be seen in the classrooms, laboratories, library, and administrative areas.  It is particularly gratifying to be able to offer students the benefits of the nearly $40 million investment we’ve made to the campus including enhanced services for our students.”

The second fall open house will take place on Saturday,November 22, 2014.

Clockwise from top left: Attendees view a demonstration in Vaughn’s Air Traffic Contron (ATC) simulator lab; Debra Henneberry, assistant professor in the aviation department, gives an overview of courses offered in the College’s new aeronautical sciences bachelor’s degree program; Sal DeRose, right, attended Vaughn’s open house to learn more about the Air Traffic Control program offerings; Shahidul Islam, lab technician, illustrates the usage of the mechatronics lab.