Choffin teacher helps turn dreams to realities

By Don Shilling

The mentor says she is energized by the students and loves to teach.

YOUNGSTOWN — Stella Camuso loves to help others succeed.

One of her favorite parts of being a teacher at Choffin Career and Technical Center is following up with graduates who are working in their chosen fields.

“It’s marvelous. It’s beyond description to see them blossom and know you were a small part of that,” said Camuso, who is the school’s diversified health occupations coordinator.

In 2007, she co-founded the Choffin Magnet School, which prepares students for health-related careers.

“People want to move forward and become a nurse, but they don’t know how to make that dream a reality. That’s what I’m here for,” she said.

Juniors and seniors in the magnet school earn high school and college credit, as well as health-care certifications, through the program.

A third teacher has been added to the program since 2007 so next school year it will have more than 100 students involved.

Camuso said the program has become so popular that it attracts students from parochial and suburban high schools, as well as those from Youngstown.

The students, who are almost all female, can be certified as an emergency medical technician, electrocardiograph technician, phlebotomist and nursing assistant.

Many go on to receive a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

The students are placed in jobs while they are in school, and Camuso follows them for the next 18 months to act as a mentor and make sure the students and employers are good matches for one another.

Camuso, who was a hospital nurse both here and in Texas, switched careers 18 years ago to come to Choffin.

“I love teaching. The students energize you,” she said.

She received the Teacher of the Year award from Youngstown schools in 2007.

For the past 10 years, she has organized a community service program for pre-veterinary students at Choffin.

The high school students teach elementary school students that proper pet care can create a kind and loving animal.

Camuso’s commitments don’t stop at the school, however.

The Canfield resident has organized benefit concerts at Youngstown State University that have raised $10,000 for a local charity that helps Russian orphanages.

The concerts featured her husband, John, who is a tenor with the Opera Club of Cleveland.

She also has organized toy and clothing drives at her church, St. Charles in Boardman, and other churches to benefit the orphanages.

shilling@vindy.com