In 2003, Bethany Freeman graduated from the Health Careers Academy at our Batavia Career
and Technical Education (CTE) Center. Now looking back, Bethany says BOCES helped shape
her career after graduation. “The clinical experiences I attended while at BOCES made a huge
impact on my career choices and helped me navigate what degrees to pursue after high
school,” said Freeman.

After graduation, Freeman continued to follow an educational career in the healthcare field,
obtaining her B.S. in Health Sciences in 2008 from Daemen College followed by her B.S. in
Nursing from the University of Buffalo in 2013. Freeman says her ability to excel in college
courses was partly due to learning and better understanding the medical terminology she
learned at BOCES.

Bethany was able to jump right from the classroom into the field, working in OR nursing for 10
years before becoming an RN Clinical Instructor for the Batavia Campus Health Dimensions in
2023. Now, Freeman is helping our future healthcare professionals saying in part that she is “so
happy to be back teaching the next generation.”

When asked what advice she wants to give the students that are currently enrolled in a BOCES
program, Freeman said “The greatest piece of advice I can give to students currently in a
BOCES program is to take advantage of the resources available to you - ask questions,
participate in everything. You’ll never have an opportunity like this again, and the teachers are
there because they are the experts in that field.” Freeman continued by saying “They all want
you to be successful. Even if you don’t pursue a career related to the program after graduation,
you will still have that knowledge gained for life and no one can take that from you. You never
know when those skills will benefit you later in life!”