BOCES is a program you can take in your junior and/or senior year of high school. BOCES stands for Board of Cooperative Educational Services. It offers many programs for you to learn certain things that you want to pursue later in life. Doing this program can help you academically and also help you get credits for college.

While taking a BOCES course, you can earn a lot of things to help your academic performance. Say if your grades aren’t the best they can possibly be, joining a BOCES class can help you get as many as 4 credits, to help you get to the graduation requirements, and as many as four As in your overall GPA. Something to consider when signing up for BOCES is that it can take away your electives, since there is no room for them in your schedule. BOCES takes up half of your school day so you can take classes in either the morning, or afternoon. Most students go to BOCES for the Technology Education classes.

There are currently 74 students from our school enrolled in the BOCES program. These enrollment numbers have been pretty consistent every year other than last year when there were more students enrolled.

At BOCES, there are a huge number of classes you can choose from. There are roughly 31 classes to join. If you join classes such as Cosmetology or the Pharmaceutical Industry, you can get a license to work in that business. Even a complete course in Audio Production can get you credits for Five Towns College. That’s a great head start! One of the most popular programs in BOCES is Cosmetology. In Cosmetology you learn to cut and style hair, along with makeup and beauty related tasks. Medical Assisting and Automotive Tech are also popular programs.

Amy Pribanic is a Junior here at Westhampton and she takes the TV Video & Digital Film production course offered at BOCES. Pribanic said, “My favorite thing about BOCES is how the teacher interacts with students and enhances our knowledge of the field.” Pribanic proclaimed that even in the first three weeks of taking this course, she’s learned a lot and loves it. While taking this course, the first hour is learning the process of Final cut and Adobe Premiere software, which are editing softwares used to put the film together. The other hours are used to film along with other students taking the class and progressing their knowledge on how to use the camera utilities.

Taking a BOCES course will definitely help you academically, but you must stay working hard in school since half of your day is missing. Students have a lot of fun and benefit greatly from BOCES. If you’re a freshman or a sophomore, thinking about taking a BOCES class in the future is definitely a must.