With the school’s renovations to the first floor including the brand new middle school, the Inclusion Program has been relocated to a brand new room. The program that began in the 2023-2024 school year was originally in a traditional classroom on the second floor. This year, they upgraded to a room with a fully decked out kitchen as well as a washer and dryer.
The idea for the room originated during the first plannings of the program during the fall of 2022 and the spring of 2023. The idea was to create a curriculum for Inclusion program members where they learned life skills like cooking and taking care of their very own space.
“A lot of the faculty and staff here saw it and said that all you need here is a bed and you’d almost have a loft apartment,” said Director of Inclusion Education Sarah Patton. “It’s a great addition to their curriculum, and we just thought it was a gorgeous space.”
As members of the inclusion program get more familiar with the space and the skills and appliances that they are learning about, their impact on the school will grow. Currently, they do laundry for special events for things such as table runners, table cloths, and anything needed for events.
The space will also be used to help inclusion members participate in vocational learning. Students will learn what it means to serve their school, by using the kitchen for things like in school bake sales to raise money, as well as impact the larger community by reaching out to local businesses in the area, and volunteering time to work with them.
Although the new additions are the focal points of the room, traditional classroom commodities were included in the room. Desks and smartboards are included for students to focus on Math and Reading skills.
“I think that the new room is fantastic and it is instrumental in the learning of the boys,” Peer Mentor James Pantazi said. “They are actually learning how to do life skills that can benefit them in some ways more than school.”
The program’s goal is to prepare students for the next phase of their lives by teaching them life and job skills that will eventually help them after they graduate from the school. The brand new room gives the program better tools to train these skills.
“Hopefully one day, they’ll have their own apartment, and they’ll live with their friends, and they’ll go to work each day and make money,” Patton said. “Its important that they practice those skills so hopefully they can have a life like that.”
