A teen from a rough-and-tumble section of The Bronx has moved on up to the Empire State Building, helping her struggling family make ends meet by landing a summer “dream’’ job there through the NYPD.
“You tell someone you work in the Empire State Building, and they all go crazy like, ‘You work there?’ ” said Graciella Centeno, 18, gazing across the Big Apple from the skyscraper’s 78th floor.
Four years ago, Centeno joined the NYPD’s Law-Enforcement Explorers group, a cop-in-training program for teens.
Police Officer Roger Bennett, Centeno’s Explorer supervisor, heard about a part-time job opening with the Boy Scouts of America in the Empire State Building and quickly thought of Centeno.
The teen said her stunning new workday views are a far cry from her surroundings in gritty High Bridge.
“You see everything. This is the tallest, biggest building I’ve ever been in,” she said.