BCAT hosts a 'Senior Celebration' to honor high school graduates

14 high school seniors graduated Thursday night from the Buffalo Center for Arts & Technology program in Buffalo.

Retha Jones, a proud parent, tells 7 News reporter Yoselin Person the innovative after-school program offers 3D printing, music production, fine arts & technology which helps her son, who is living with Asperger's.

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“This was a safe haven for him,” she says. “They changed my child from a scary antisocial quiet kid to this whole roundly beautiful very social advocate and like he did a display at the Buffalo Arts Gallery because of this place.”

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And students like Anthony Eatmon have been awarded $1,000 each for completing this program.

“This is a great opportunity for kids because I'm not going to lie there’s nothing much to do in Buffalo,” he says. “Especially as a young youth and I feel like BCAT provides that opportunity for something to do.”

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Other students say this program helped them embrace their inner talent and grow their confidence.

“I made friends and I found out that I wasn't meant to be a loser and I copied people I would say. I adopt certain things, certain personality traits that I like,” says James Dwuznik. “So through adapting other things that I love about people I've grown to love myself.”

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“I've learned planning, leadership, and teamwork skills. Those are the basic fundamentals and I've learned soul searching like really building up with other people,” says 18-year-old senior Mo Hill.

Tears of joy came from program director Dr. Kamalah Poles.

She says she has always been passionate about helping underserved kids.

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“They’re underserved and they don’t have access to the arts the way people do so for us to be able to provide that for our community is huge and it’s not that we’re providing it we wouldn’t exist if they didn’t come to take advantage of us.”

If you’re interested in learning to register your student to BCAT, click here .