Westfield Vocational-Technical High School Manufacturing Technology Instructor Clement Fucci, speaks to a group of students in the schools state-of-the-art computer aided manufacturing design lab. (File photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – After 34 years at Westfield Vocational Technical High School – 31 as a fulltime teacher – it could be said Clement “Clem” Fucci has earned the title of “Mr. Voke.”
Fucci, a 1974 WVTHS alum, knew he wanted to be a teacher long before he spent three decades teaching in the school’s manufacturing department and coaching the Tigers on the baseball diamond.
“I knew I wanted to be a teacher while I was still at Westfield Voke,” said Fucci, who worked in manufacturing for 13 years after graduation and earning his Occupational Education Certification at then-Westfield State College. “I’d work a 10-hour day, go home, get cleaned up, and go to school from 6-9, and I also coached Babe Ruth baseball. So my schedule was pretty full back in the day.”
Westfield Voc-Tech baseball coach Clem Fucci, center, speaks to the team during a game against Smith Academy. (File photo by Frederick Gore)
An institution at Voke, Fucci took the school’s manufacturing department, a mainstay since 1911, and turned it into a juggernaut, earning the Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ Partnership Response in Manufacturing Education (PRIME) award, a national award given to the nation’s elite manufacturing program,s that WVTHS earned in 2012.
The award nets the school $10,000 each year for three years, which Fucci has used to buy equipment, and $5,000 for professional development and promoting manufacturing. The award also enables Fucci’s students to apply for scholarships through the SME.
Fucci’s program has also done something that many colleges and universities nationwide are struggling to achieve: Help their students find jobs.
“The connections he’s made with business and industry and what he’s done for the students, 100 percent of those students have the opportunity – and 95 percent of them take it – to go right to work,” said WVTHS Principal Stefan Czaporowski. “Just the amount of funding he’s been able to generate for the program. It’s pretty much self-sufficient.”
“We – myself and my advisory committee – were able to accomplish a lot at a time when there was no funding,” Fucci said of his early days running the department. “We brought millions of dollars into that program in a time when we were able to do some creative things. It’s huge to bring technology to our students over the years to help them be successful.”
Fucci’s work in boosting his program’s profile has attracted national and state attention, drawing praise from Governor Deval L. Patrick, whom Fucci accompanied for a tour of Advance Manufacturing on Turnpike Industrial Road in January.
“I’m excited about what Westfield Voc-Tech does everyday under terrific leadership,” said Patrick of Fucci. “The point is not lost on me or my team that we’ve got to be thinking hard about having alternatives to traditional classrooms and academic paths that are just as successful as our traditional classrooms and paths.”
Jeffrey Amanti, production manager at Advance whose family has long been involved with Fucci’s advisory committee, fondly remembers that day, along with the rest of Advance’s employees, many of whom share a common thread.
“We have had a countless number of employees over the years,” Amanti said of the great many of Advance Manufacturing employees who were taught by Fucci. “There’s a group of companies in the area that are on an advisory board, and he’s worked with the advisory board and trained students for the needs of the companies in this area.”
“The type of manufacturing that’s done here in the city of Westfield and Southwick is second to none across the world,” Fucci said. “Some of the most highly technological manufacturing in the world happens in this area, and most of our grads over the last 40-50 years have made those companies successful.”
Todd Reynolds, a 1990 Voc-Tech graduate who currently works for Advance as a billing supervisor, remembers working with Fucci well.
“He was a very good teacher and was great about teaching the kids and building the curriculum the right way,” he said. “(Fucci) definitely took the time and did the research to develop the curriculum. He’s a great asset for Westfield Vocational-Tech.”
Like many Fucci students, Reynolds began his tenure at Advance in 1988 through the school’s co-op program, working after school at Advance and alternating between attending class and working fulltime every other week.
Under Fucci, the co-op program has blossomed and Reynolds attributes much of it’s continued success to the man himself.
“It’s grown tremendously just by getting the word out there about the manufacturing needs of the area, to further and better the kids after school.” he said. “It prepares them for coming right from school to work, not necessarily having to go to college or a technical school after high school. I was very fortunate that I didn’t have to go to college to get a very good job.”
According to Czaporowski, who came to WVTHS in 2012, Fucci has one characteristic that has impressed him the most.
“His professionalism. You can’t even speak enough about that,” he said. “He’s the consummate professional whose very well respected throughout the school and with the students. He’s going to be missed but we’re happy for him.”
“We’re confident in the program and what the people who’ve been working under him for several years are going to do.”
“When I took over the program, it was one of the best programs in the area. As I leave the program, it’s one of the best programs in the country.” said Fucci, who’s looking forward to taking the next few months to relax, golf, and go see his New York Yankees play ball.
“I do have opportunities that’ve been presented to me, some of them have been in consulting for other programs,” he said. “I can’t divulge a lot, but there’s some new technology centers that may be opening up in western Mass. that I hope to be a part of.”
Regardless of where he finds himself next though, one thing is certain: Clem Fucci will always be “Mr. Fucci” – and “Mr. Voke” – to a great many in Westfield.
