Education is the stepping stone to readiness for the future, and in the EHHS Transition Program, meaningful learning is taught and demonstrated in a number of ways. The program is exclusively for special education students who have finished high school and are eighteen to twenty two years old. It is an alternative to college, community college, or a trade school and students can enroll for up to three years.
Inside the Program
Erica Rembisz works as the Transition Academy Coordinator and Kristen Adanti-Pedersen is the Special Education Teacher at EHHS. Alongside them are four paraprofessionals: Gabe Flemmig, TJ Blotney, Jane Feldman-Hewin, and Steve Caldwell. The students within the Transition Program don’t work on academics like Algebra or Science, they learn functional academics which work on skills that promote independent daily living. Skills range from budgeting to cooking, and students are always doing hands-on learning activities. Every day the students go to work at jobs in the community, get paid, and, using education platforms, they’re able to learn and manage financial skills. They also participate in community activities like navigating the grocery store or navigating through the community to work on identifying important public services.
Exceptional Blooms and More
Exceptional Blooms and More is the Transition Academy’s small business that sells student crafted items. Two years ago, Exceptional Blooms and More was established by Ms. Adanti-Pedersen to help raise money for the program. Ms. Adanti-Pedersen explained, “When we sell items, it helps us raise funds to do our grocery shopping, for our cooking lessons, to go out to do community activities.” The business began as small floral arrangements but has since developed into a range of products that students enjoy creating. Since Exceptional Blooms and More is a small business, it is eligible to participate in a Work Simulation Showcase run by Digitability, a learning platform.
What is Digitability and Bankability? Why use them?
Transition Academy students have savings and checking accounts which they practice depositing money into. They learn what their payroll looks like, learn about taxes and insurance, pay bills on the first and fifteenth of every month, and rent items. Digitability and Bankability are platforms that make this learning possible by teaching general technology skills and financial literacy. With Digitabality, students learn general technology skills like writing emails or navigating social media. Bankability is a platform that teaches students financial literacy. The continuous practices are great opportunities to work towards applying all of these life-skills in the future. The Digitability platform runs a Work Simulation Showcase that is open to any school across the United States that uses the platform and has a small business. The EHHS Transition Academy has participated in the showcase for the last two years, and last year they won after receiving the most votes for their small business. This year, they submitted their video highlighting the students working hands-on. Opportunities like this give an opportunity for the Transition Academy’s team of educators and students to be recognized for their hard work, motivation and growth throughout each school year. This community within EHHS demonstrates unity and fun while capturing important milestones in a student’s life.
