Kristina Jackson, special education teacher for the Young Adult Program helps the WISD students makes breakfast to start off their day.
by Matthew Bartow
Contributor
Imagine working at Petco as part of your curriculum. While this arrangement may seem unusual, it happens every day at Washtenaw Community College.
Thanks to the Washtenaw Intermediate School District’s Young Adult Program some students are making it work.
The Young Adult Program is designed to serve students with cognitive and motor impairments from ages 18 to 22 years old as they transition from high schoolers into young adults.
Washtenaw Intermediate School District operates the program at seven locations including WCC.
The Young Adult Program’s home base at WCC is in the Technical and Industrial Building; however, in a typical day, the students spend less than two hours in the classroom. For a significant chunk of the day, the students are off campus working jobs.
A hallmark aspect of the program is that each student is required to work in several different jobs each week. They pick these jobs as early as the very first week of the school year.
Kristina Jackson, the teacher of the Young Adult Program at WCC, said employment provides students with valuable experience as they transition into young adults.
“My hope is that, in these jobs, students will gain experiences and explore what they want to do with the rest of their lives,” said Jackson, who’s completing her second year with the program. “I hope that they begin to find their passion in life.”
Students have many choices when it comes to finding the job that is right for them. Options include Petco, the Duderstadt Center on the University of Michigan’s north campus, a senior center, the Ann Arbor City Club, and jobs at WCC, including at the Health and Fitness Center.
It’s the wealth of choices that students such as John Fox and Jasmin King love about the program.
“It means an opportunity to see the real-world, even though I have special needs,” said Fox, 19, who volunteers at the senior center and also is currently employed outside of school at McDonalds. Fox said he hopes to work in a field where he can help people with problems.
“Not only does it teach me how to be competent at a certain job, it also teaches me life skills,” said King, 20, who works at Petco and the Ann Arbor City Club. “It teaches me to be more independent and be healthy as well.”
In addition to the jobs, students can participate in various clubs in the program, such as chat club, drama club, Aktion club (community service through Kiwanis), photo club and running club.
A number of students participate in The Voice Club. Every other Monday, students in this club walk over two miles to deliver WCC’s student newspaper, The Washtenaw Voice, to buildings across campus.
These activities are fun and allow students to work on skills such as working together, self-expression, fine motor skills, money and math skills, and following directions.
“We get to have fun but learn how to be adults at the same time,” said Fox.
