Posted November 17, 2021 – written by Austin Nagelhout, SOE Graduate Assistant
“Because of Buffalo State, I continue to become all I can be.”
Denise Grandits worked in healthcare for almost 20 years when she finally got the courage to pursue a lifelong dream of hers—teaching. After becoming a teacher, she soon realized that the leadership roles she had held in healthcare were an asset to her teaching career, and she was inspired to become a school administrator. This led her to her current role as assistant principle at Kenmore West High School.
Grandits valued all the information she learned in Educational Leadership courses. School Law was one of her favorite classes due to her professor, Lisa Krueger, who made the content accessible and engaging. Although the sheer volume of information was a bit intimidating, Grandits loved the real-life examples she was given and still uses what she learned in the class to inform her decisions today.
In addition to Dr. Krueger, Grandits credits many of the professors at Buffalo State with sharing their wealth of experiences and contributing to her own. Since her schooling overlapped with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she had insight into the financial ramifications most school districts would be facing, which she said she felt gave her an advantage.
"Buffalo State helped me to build skills that help me to see the whole student and to understand a full picture of a situation. Although I know I have so much more to learn, I know that by focusing on treating people with the highest respect and by trying to understand their perspective absolutely will help me to be the best leader I can be."
