A View of MBHS, Through Two Seniors’ Eyes

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Kaleb Lay, Staff Reporter

On paper, Millennium Brooklyn High School  is a high performing high school: a  September 17th, 2016 post in the New York Post ranks MBHS 21st in NYC academically, after only 4 years in existence. Additionally, the New York City Department of Education (DOE) backs up this ranking with research that finds that MBHS has excellent “rigorous STEM courses, staff, environment, school leadership, trust and most importantly, student achievement”.

These factors attracted, at least, some MBHS students to the high ranking institution, but the school also contributed to students’ developments in other ways. In order to get a more personal view, MBHS seniors, Symone Henry and Jelani Felix, both of whom decided to attend the school because of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) centered curriculum, were interviewed on their experience at the school and its impact on them.

Their first impression of the school was the high level of diversity amongst the students at every grade level, which created a sense of comfort for them because they were able to identify with people like themselves; allowing them to feel “at home”.

In addition to the comfortable school environment for them,  Symone described the staff as being quite helpful overall and who advised students to, “find your comfort person and trust in them,” because not all of them understand a single student. In regard to classes, Symone commented that, “there are a lot more options than previous years.” “Internship is an added bonus because it is much more beneficial to us as students. But the variety is very great, love it,” she said.

Jelani Felix reflected on the intensity of the courses stating that, “They’re difficult but if you take your time and [attend] office hours then you’ll be able to grasp every class efficiently”.

Touching upon the human developmental factor of the institution, both Symone and Jelani agreed that MBHS has the potential to assist students in achieving their goals. When asked what goals they were able to achieve, Jelani Felix responded by saying that MBHS’s academics were effective in helping him earn a place on the honor roll and “become the first person in [his] family to be accepted to college.”

Symone added that MBHS helped her achieve her goal of making a statement in supporting the Black Lives Matter movement along with her fellow classmates via their self organized “Blackout Day.”  

Additionally, the two college-bound seniors have asserted that their experience at MBHS has prepared them for the future in other ways.

According to Symone, her experience “was always generally positive.”  She added, “of course, a few bumps in the road came along, as expected in a high school experience. I know that I always had some support by teachers and students [who] I can almost call family now.”

Jelani concurs, but adds that the experience can be “long, agonizing, stressful, revealing, fun and enjoyable at times.”  And if they were given a choice of school attendance, both of the College-bound seniors revealed that they would do MBHS all over again.

Symone said, “sometimes I feel like I’m doing unnecessary, busy work and it is frustrating. But… a majority of it, I know, is all for a reason – Regents!”

And as for Jelani whose first choice of high school was not MBHS, he wouldn’t want to be at any other school.  “I like the safe feeling that I get from it and I love the friendly people… I don’t feel discriminated or disrespected for the most part and I understand that I have a say in the way things are… Overall, I’m truly satisfied with my experience here and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”