I was invited to visit the FPS Extended Program in partnership with Fitchburg State University this morning... I got to chat with the students and teachers and check out their amazing classroom at McKay school. What an incredible asset we have here in Fitchburg for our students with special needs.
🗓This program is for Fitchburg Public Schools students with intellectual disabilities, age 18-21. They focus on functional academics, vocational skill development, all while giving students a college experience they wouldn't otherwise have.
🖊 After the classroom visit, we walked over to Anne Howard's college classroom which had many students in Education and Special Education and Meryl Higgins, the FPS Special Education Teacher/Program Coordinator gave a presentation to the FSU students on what they do and how to get involved.
The students in the FPS extended program get to learn:
💵Money management: banking, Budgeting, How to be an employee and what the pay looks like
🧹Independent Living: How to travel, get to work, read labels, go grocery shopping, do laundry and general house duties.
🤸♂️Health and Wellness: Hygiene, Internet Safety, Fitness
they get 2 days a week to use the FSU Rec center for Fitness activities. They get a cooking class twice a month to learn how to cook for different occasions, and making healthy food.
👥 Community Service is a part of the program: making Thanksgiving Baskets, Painting kindness rocks, making baby blankets, gift wrapping, valentine's day treats and more.
⌚️Vocational Training: Internships and real jobs are very important to the students as they age out of the program and transition to living more independently. They learn job skills, get ServSafe Training, and get to do internships working real jobs to see their skills in action and help them learn to choose a job for their career. Partners in the program have included Hannaford Supermarkets (Lancaster St, Leominster, MA), The Hair Loft, 31 Hair Studio, Petco (Leominster), FPS Nutrition Services, Summer St. Cafe, The Gardener's Spot, T.J.Maxx (Leominster, MA), Fitchburg State University Police Program and more.
The program is actively seeking more businesses to partner with for their students, and advocate that these students will grow into valuable, reliable employees for many of our local businesses.
🦇Falcon Friends--- this is a program/club at FSU with the FPS Extended program which is like a best buddies organization; the college students get paired up with a student and meet up with their “Best Friend” at least once a week. They text, talk on the phone, go to movies, play sports on campus, and sometimes attend socials with one another. Secretary of the club Emma gave a moving speech about how she started thinking she was helping the FPS students, but really they ended up really helping her.
Amazing program... so honored to have been included and invited to visit <3
