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Centennial BOCES High School: Who We Are

Added Jul 23, 2025 •

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some of us took a different path to get here we ended up at 46 for a different reasons maybe you need a smaller class sizes of different kinds of support please where we can be seen for who Leon during graduation they're just so thankful and grateful and they know they've turned that page and it's hard for us we're letting them go they're going to go fight with their wings and all of this stuff but um it really it really shows during graduation the kids that are really hard and have those walls built up you can see them kind of breaking down and it's just so rewarding and just really a masterpiece of what what we're able to do for these children it is the best job in the world because we get to serve students that need a different educational setting so um maybe things weren't working out at their um traditional homeschool due to could be um housing situation could be um maybe some lack of academic support could be some mental health issues um variety of different issues that led them to Centennial bosis High School well I came back is I feel like this was the only school that I really cared but if you ask for help then they help you right away or if they see that you didn't that you need help they offer to help at other schools I'm in my old school wasn't like that like it would kind of be hard to get help I can get to know them as people and get to know about their lives outside of school and what is making School hard for them and through that I get to know him and I can tell the kids I love him and give him a hug and give him that support that they need for me a lot of the kids just want to be listened to and in Traditional School classes are too large teachers are too over worked and these kids are it's just too easy to slip through the cracks what I've noticed with our sibo these kids they're smart almost every 1 of them is very intelligent but to fit into a regular High School it it didn't work the schedules didn't work and exactly what she was saying the things that helped me the most to like get my stuff done because I'm a type of person to like to have that like support constantly so a lot at the old high school like you would have to like raise your hand and there'd be like multiple people there as in over here we have a board and we kind of just put it down and those teachers like they'll come to you right away it's not just like okay well give me a moment you know and I just find it much more easier because I can like actually get up and advocate here cuz it's not like a big class cuz I I struggle with like a lot of a crowd of people I should say I love this setting because you know a lot of people think you know it should just 1 way the public school system uh it should just work for everybody but 1 size doesn't fit all and so to watch these kids be able to accomplish things when they weren't successful elsewhere I feel more free here then I want to do at my original school cuz like I have more time to focus on what I want to do get to choose what assignments and like just go on my own pace not being rushed we you can just like come in here and nothing from it before like nothing affects how you do here they kind of they give you the work and you complete all the work you need to know it's it's just rewarding all the way around I mean it's not just us giving our part to the students but it's so much bigger than that it's what we get from the students too it's very gratifying see them more than just teachers I feel like I wouldn't say they're my family but they're like close to being my family because you know they're like helping me a lot the amount of love that I have for them it's like my own children like it  that I only get them for a year I wish we had them longer so that we can make bigger stronger impacts on them um but I'm just thankful for the little bit of time that I do get but they're literally like my children like they could call me at any time and if they needed something and I could provide it I would be there in a heartbeat and I have done that for many many students that have already graduated so um I always tell them when I tell you that I love you it's not just words coming out of my mouth I truly 100% do love you and I want you to know that like if 20 years passes along you can find me and I'll always be there to be a support system for you you hear these graduation speeches you've got 1 kid saying I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for this program if it wasn't for Trish we have 1 girl who is in the hospital awaiting her bone marrow transplant so her mom and her little daughter accepted her diploma on her behalf and you have 1 girl who's dedicating her diploma to her dead mother and saying like this is for you Mom and that story that at graduation right there encapsulates why I do this and why I believe that any student can do this if they put their mind to it no matter what life circumstances that they're going through for some like a complicated family struggles falling behind or losing motivation but the important thing is we didn't give up

Uploaded by Lauryn Bentley.