Students learn transition skills in program
In five years, Butler Senior High School student Kenny Clark imagines a life with man's best friend.
“If I ever move on my own, I would like to have an animal with me,” said Clark, 19. “I prefer to have a dog.”
Clark is one of 13 students in The Arch of Butler County's Abilities Enrichment and Readiness Opportunities (AERO) program, an after-school program that provides instruction to students, ages 14 to 21, who need intensive services to gain employment and build independent living skills for life after graduation.
Students created vision boards March 19 to show where they would be in five years after they graduated high school or in their lives.
Pictures of video game characters were glued around a picture of a person holding a lion cub on Clark's board.
“We learn about different careers and how we prepare for them,” he said about the AERO program. “It really helps me and as well as the others here ... discover what we want to do in the future.”
Skylor White, who has been in the program two years, glued a picture of a juicy pork chop and the McDonald's logo on his vision board.
“I want to learn how to make the recipe,” said White, 20, who studied culinary arts at the Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School,
Along with a vision for himself, White has also learned about how to write a resume, an important skill he will need after he graduates this year, he said.
Amber Moore, who graduates this year and has plans to work in a workshop, learned about self-advocacy.
“So people don't speak for you — you can speak for yourself,” said Moore, 18.
Last year, students were assigned a job, and if they did not self advocate for the job they wanted, they had to stay in that position, said Marissa Wagner, special projects coordinator for The Arc of Butler County.
Self advocacy is important because if you don't speak up for yourself other people will make your choices for you, she said.
Moore was very shy when she started, Wagner said.
“To see her in the last three years become the person that she is, now she has an opinion and laughs and jokes around, she has really opened up,” Wagner said giving credit to Moore's family and friends. “It's amazing to watch how they grow overtime.”
The curriculum centers around personal, career and life management, Wagner said. The program started in 2016.
Students learn vocational skills through job-shadowing activities and interview mechanics as staff members simulate a realistic interview setting.
Daily living skills are learned though participation in volunteer activities and socialization through multiple community events.
Currently, the program is open to Butler High School students. However, Wagner said she hopes to expand the opportunity to other school districts. Students outside the Butler Area School District can enroll in AERO but need to provide their own transportation.
Ashleigh Gladde, 18, who has been involved in the program for three years, said her AERO instructors cheer her up when she is feeling down.
In her future, Gladde imagines a job where she can work with animals or a job in the design field where she can use her passion for crafts.
“I want to work in a barn or a zoo when I grow up,” she said. “That's with my disability, I can handle that.”
The Arch of Butler County's Abilities Enrichment and Readiness Opportunities program, or AERO, is located at 316 N. Main St.Transition services are offered to Butler Area School District students. Students need their own transportation if they attend school in any district.For more information about AERO, contact Marissa Wagner, special projects coordinator, at marissawagner@arcbutler.org or call 724-283-3300, Ext. 117.
