“Centric cherishes the students and their state of mind” by Gustavo Marques

Hey there folks ! My name is Gustavo and I am 18 years old. I like to play video games, to cook ( even when not cooking that well ) and also enjoy watching movies. I’m in my last year of highschool, and have been on Centric for around four years. I study in Colegio Marista ( in Belém, PA, Brazil) where a program called “Way Brazil ” introduced me to american highschool. It pretty much lets me study the subjects that I need to graduate in the Educational system of the US, while I also study in my country’s school. You might be wondering ” Why am I reading this ?” and the answer for that is very simple, because I needed credits so I could complete my ELA 12 and (hopefully) finish Centric to go to a college. But even if the main reason for me to write about this text is to earn credits, my stories about how I was able to go on in this versatyle student lifestyle are all true, so you might want to hear me out, just in case I say something that interests you.

First and foremost, if you didn’t already know about this, the educational system of the US is very different from Brazil’s system, and for instance, Centric is very different from standard school in the states. For me that have been here for four years, Centric feels like an alternative way of learning, that values practice over repetitive classes. It rewards students for trying multiple times, as the same assignment can be corrected up to 3 times, meaning you can always improve if your work didn’t accomplish the goals the teachers were expecting. Moreover, in terms of subjects, it helps to understand better other cultures if you are not from the US like me, as much of the cultural material from the states is unique to its colonists , and not shared to many other countries( for example, mine).

As for the versatile time schedule that the platform offers, one of the great aspects of Centric, I always had ease of finding time to study. Since I had in-person classes twice a week, I didn’t need to add any extra time to complete projects or to catch up with my classmates. It worked in 2 hour shifts on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and there were always two teachers in class ( one native speaker and one Brazilian ) both helping with a common project. One great thing about the teachers I’ve had is that they were all from different subjects ( with the exception of the brazilian teacher, he stayed with us for 3 years then it changed to another brazilian teacher that had the same role as the previous, an english instructor to help the new students get used with only speaking english). In my school, we started with history( the subject I most hated, probably due to the many texts and researches I had to make while not having complete domain of english) and for each semester we advanced through a different subject , alternating from various subjects to ELA( there is 4 of those, which is why my last project is an ELA based).

Throughout those years in Way I´ve got a chance to prepare for the big decisions that had to be taken. The teachers I had were always incentivizing the kids to pursue their dreams, mostly by asking what each one would like to be, and also by showing us how the U.S college looks like, and what good universities we should learn about, in case any of us wanted to study abroad. This is one of the greatest things about Centric, as it seems like they cherish their students and their state of mind, always trying to clear the path we are on. And most importantly, due to the teacher not knowing Portuguese ( one did, but he abruptly refused to speak it in class) I had to develop my conversation and listening skills , to a point where I can perfectly understand and speak English with a relatively good accent. Honestly, the language skills I’ve developed through the years I studied in Centric were the most crucial knowledge gained, and will most likely benefit me the most due to English being such a highly valued language.

In conclusion, Centric is a good choice in terms of dedicated education( since it only has 7 subjects) with many interesting projects that, in conjunction with their good teachers, can educate students quite well. Their platform is very intuitive , and you can guide yourself to see what is missing for your subject schedule completion. The easy access to teachers also helps the students to produce more, and the attempt system lets you correct any mistakes you possibly made. Overall a solid study method, and I definitely recommend it to anybody who wants to either improve their english, or that have the dream to study abroad.

The picture represents me right now.

Gustavo Marques