It's a new year for students at the Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central. They're back in their own building after two years of renovations. Our Katie Gibas takes a look at the state of the art building and what it means for students, teachers and staff.

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- For most of these students, it's their first time in the Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central's downtown building. But seniors and staffers remember the school before its state of the art upgrades.

"In polite words, it just needed a renovation. It was a building that was built in the 50s in conjunction with the old Syracuse Central High School and was geared towards vocational programs that were in some sense out of date," said Matthew Williams, the ITC Principal.

After two years of renovations, that's not the case anymore. Every classroom has a smart board. There are brand new science, culinary arts and auto mechanic labs.

"With the smart boards and all that, for the internet just goes easier than just them talking to us or reading out of a text book. It’s more fun also. So that's also nice," said Paul Grenga, an ITC 11th grader.

Williams added, "We're preparing kids not just to graduate from high school, but to then go onto college and be successful in college. That's our main goal. It's not just about graduating kids from high school. It's about what are they prepared to do."

And one example is the culinary arts program that teaches students to both cook and run a restaurant.

"With the culinary courses, the restaurant is a great example where students will be running a business, learning how to run a business, putting everything together from that initial business plan to preparing the food to operating the facility to learning customer service. It's that whole gamut of skills. We would call them 21st century skills," said Williams.

The project has been in talks since the late 90s and now final, after two years of renovations, ITC students have a place they can call home.

"We've been in swing space that was another school's space, so for a kid to be able to come to a building that, in many senses, is a home away from home and to see their colors on the wall, the red, white and blue, to see the logos that will go in the gym. It builds that greater sense of community and identity," said Williams.

And all that, district officials say, is a recipe for success.