AURELIUS - It was a day to dedicate dedication.
Alyssa Sunkin / The Citizen
Fourteen students from seven Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES component school districts sing the Star Spangled Banner, directed by Laura Woodworth, a music teacher from the Weedsport Central School District, during Saturday's dedication ceremony.
Fourteen students from seven Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES component school districts sing the Star Spangled Banner, directed by Laura Woodworth, a music teacher from the Weedsport Central School District, during Saturday's dedication ceremony.
It was a day to dedicate the dedication of the taxpayers, the leadership of the Cayuga-Onondaga Board of Cooperative Educational Services and the nine component school districts, teachers and staff, parents and students, architects, engineers and construction crews, those that had the vision and resolve to build for the future.
It was a day to dedicate the dedication of past leaders who laid the foundation for a promising future.
New York State Commissioner of Education Richard P. Mills on Saturday stood before educational leaders, members of the component schools' boards of education and scores of BOCES supporters to talk about the dedication that resulted in the new state-of-the-art campus officially dedicated as the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES Regional Education Center.
What he, and his fellow presenters at the ceremony, all agreed on is the importance and symbolism of this building.
Raymond Sant, who accepted a plaque in honor of his father and the first Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES superintendent Raymond Sant to hang in the Career and Technical Wing, said that if his dad were there, he would've said “What happened here today may well be the greatest improvement in education.”
Superintendent Gary Gilchrist said he has already seen that improvement with the steady rise in enrollment and the changing views of BOCES' value the community.
“This building with make a difference, there is no doubt about that,” said Gilchrist, who will be retiring on Jan. 1. “And it started three weeks ago.”
September 5 marked the opening day of the $43.5 million project that broke ground 16 months ago. The building features state-of-the-art equipment to facilitate increased student learning and green technology to be eco-friendly.
Earlier this week BOCES hosted an open house during which positive reaction reverberated off the building's green walls. Saturday marked the culmination of the week-long celebration with a ribbon cutting ceremony and a declaration of praise from people who have a connection to BOCES, from teachers and past and current students to government officials to local business owners.
Russ Riddell, BOCES board vice president saw the building emerge from the dedication of past leaders.
“We are dedicating this Regional Education Center today because of those that came before us never stopped moving forward and upward,” he said.
Former Auburn Enlarged City School District Superintendent John Plume asked the attentive audience to contemplate a thought.
“Think for a second what could have been had we not tried or if we had not succeeded,” he charged the crowd.
“We did it,” he later said. “The dream has become reality.”
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at alyssa.sunkin@lee.net or 253-5311 ext. 239
It was a day to dedicate the dedication of past leaders who laid the foundation for a promising future.
New York State Commissioner of Education Richard P. Mills on Saturday stood before educational leaders, members of the component schools' boards of education and scores of BOCES supporters to talk about the dedication that resulted in the new state-of-the-art campus officially dedicated as the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES Regional Education Center.
What he, and his fellow presenters at the ceremony, all agreed on is the importance and symbolism of this building.
Raymond Sant, who accepted a plaque in honor of his father and the first Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES superintendent Raymond Sant to hang in the Career and Technical Wing, said that if his dad were there, he would've said “What happened here today may well be the greatest improvement in education.”
Superintendent Gary Gilchrist said he has already seen that improvement with the steady rise in enrollment and the changing views of BOCES' value the community.
“This building with make a difference, there is no doubt about that,” said Gilchrist, who will be retiring on Jan. 1. “And it started three weeks ago.”
September 5 marked the opening day of the $43.5 million project that broke ground 16 months ago. The building features state-of-the-art equipment to facilitate increased student learning and green technology to be eco-friendly.
Earlier this week BOCES hosted an open house during which positive reaction reverberated off the building's green walls. Saturday marked the culmination of the week-long celebration with a ribbon cutting ceremony and a declaration of praise from people who have a connection to BOCES, from teachers and past and current students to government officials to local business owners.
Russ Riddell, BOCES board vice president saw the building emerge from the dedication of past leaders.
“We are dedicating this Regional Education Center today because of those that came before us never stopped moving forward and upward,” he said.
Former Auburn Enlarged City School District Superintendent John Plume asked the attentive audience to contemplate a thought.
“Think for a second what could have been had we not tried or if we had not succeeded,” he charged the crowd.
“We did it,” he later said. “The dream has become reality.”
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at alyssa.sunkin@lee.net or 253-5311 ext. 239
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