WEBVTT

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why Becker I

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spec is 1 of the most supportive schools in the South

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Bronx and maybe in New York City um

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we create uh small

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environments for students to succeed we

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make sure that we provide tools and resources to

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both students and families to really set them up for

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success in speca and Beyond speca

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at speca we believe all students

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should have a chance to attend the most rigorous and

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challenging high schools and colleges and

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we believe it's important for us to give students an

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opportunity to see all the things that they might be interested

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and uh for school and

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for careers and have an opportunity to um

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to practice and explore those interests so

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we offer our students the opportunity

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to take 3 High School level regions by the time they're

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in eighth grade and the goal of that is to make

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sure that they are already on an advanced track by

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the time they get to high school no matter where they go they

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already have 3 classes completed so they have earlier

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access to that high school's AP courses they

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have earlier access to all their Early College opportunities

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and that we're trying to stay true to our name

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South Bronx Early College Academy

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uh speca has a wide ranging electric program

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with art and music and drama um

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all of those things we think are

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crucial for students to get a chance to experience and

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see things that they might be interested in and it's

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a little bit more like a high school sometimes where students

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get to choose some of the classes that they take and

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uh get exposed to a lot of different opportunities that

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they um that they want to study the

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portfolio process began when

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we noticed that the students were coming in

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8th grade and they didn't have enough time to get ready for

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their portfolio application so

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we looked at that and we decided that

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the best way to work with to identify students in

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a in sixth grade uh every

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student gets an introduction to art

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at to visual art and music in sixth grade in

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seventh grade the students who Express a real interest

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go into a more specialized portfolio

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program so they have a whole year to get their

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portfolio ready uh with us

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in school rather than having to try to

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figure out how to do that at home

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uh we're very proud that

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spec is a school that's open to all students it's open

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to students who um whose

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families are new in the country and students who have lived

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here their whole lives and uh

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we really make speca a place where

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uh all students are supported students

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get a chance to study what they're interested

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in studying and every student

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is a part of an Advisory Group where they get a chance to talk

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in small groups and uh we can really

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to check in with students and get to know how they're doing on

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a daily basis being a part of this community whether you're a

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teacher or a student is that you have a

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place where your input really matters if

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you have feedback it will be

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implemented so for our students they get

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feedback on their work on how to be social emotional

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learning on just how to be

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a scholar and like how to Advocate and

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just be

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the Agent of Change that they want to be

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and then the students give us feedback

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back about being teachers and

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being real humans and like

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getting all their levels and how to talk to them in

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a way that they could receive it and when that really

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happens that's the magic of

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speca I do

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support students with IEPs um

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we have about

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25% of our students who

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are here that um have disabilities

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um and I feel that you

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know 1 of our success stories is that you know

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some of them do come in here with a learning disability and

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leave with you know often

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times they don't need

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an IP anymore or their

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services are minimized and that's kind of our

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goal 1 of the things that makes Becca different

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is we have a really cool partnership

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with the wco um organization and

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it really is a organization

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that assists with not

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only our school right like our after school but also our

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families and as a social work

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to hear 1 of my primary roles is making sure

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that our kids not only feel safe in

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their learning environment but also in

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their home environment when they're outside making sure

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that the their needs are met and

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speca allows me as a social

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to do all of those things from

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the space so we are very invested in

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just their learning

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who development um their

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Arts just them we address

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so many different needs of our kids

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because of wco and because of sort of the in-house

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systems that we already have in

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addition to the regular primary goal of counseling

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we care about them as a person so

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why speca why

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not speca