Transitions 18-21, a program out of Montezuma-Cortez High School, is seeking local businesses to collaborate with to help provide job-learning opportunities and entry-level employment to its postgraduate students with disabilities.
“This partnership can offer students with disabilities a chance to acquire work experience and enhance their prospects for success in their adult lives,” program organizers said.
The program, which started four years ago, usually works with 18- to 21-year-old postgraduate students as a continuation of services. However, they’ll sometimes work with younger students if their Individualized Education Program coordinator recommends it.
Most students with an active IEP qualify. Students’ disabilities can range from mild to moderate such as a reading disability to significant such as being in a wheelchair or needing help with feeding themselves, according to program coordinator Chase Wesley.
Students finish the program when they complete their transitional goals or age out of the program at 21.
In the state of Colorado, when a student with an IEP enters ninth grade or turns 15 years old, they are required to begin transition planning with an IEP coordinator.
The coordinator works with the student to help them make a plan for what they want to do after graduating high school, such as attending college or going into the workforce.
They discuss what kind of career students would like to work in, their life goals and more. By the time students finish their junior year, they will have most likely tailored transitional goals. After these plans are put in place, the IEP coordinators will know which students would best fit the Transitions 18-21 program.
Once in the program, students will gain work experience and either plan for college or gain independent life skills.
The program helps students who were interested in working for local businesses last year with speaking to employers and learning about the job.
“We can also help them with being able to take the syllabus that they get from an instructor and then learn how to read that, how to plan out on a calendar, how to look at the syllabus for when assignments are due and everything,” Wesley said.
Wesley also said the program works with students in job exploration.
“The students got to kind of get a quick look at different places and they get to choose like, ‘Oh, I'm interested in this kind of field,’ and we tried to help set up work experiences with those employers,” Wesley said.
Wesley said students usually work for a few hours at a time each week to get a sense of the routine and their desired field. Some of the businesses they have worked with are Southwest Donuts, Mesa Cafe and Good Life Pet Store.
Right now, the program is working with eight students. They don’t have a maximum number of students they can take into the program at this time.
“One of our main goals that we do hope to see in the future is to see a lot of our students holding down jobs in our community and being out and having an active participation within our community and just enjoying their adult lives,” Wesley said.
High school graduates can’t accept their high school diploma until they complete the program. While they still graduate and walk with their peers at graduation, their physical diploma won’t be provided until their time with 18-21 is finished.
For more information about the program, contact Wesley at cwesley@cortez.k12.co.us or by calling 214-793-0925.
