Three years of work finally paid off for Port Arthur Memorial transition coordinator Germain Jackson Eddie and special education teacher Shannon Copley, who accepted a grant check for $10,000 from Texas A&M University’s Center on Disability and Development for acceptance into their Work-Based Learning Project program.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Copley said Tuesday morning, as she, Eddie and Texas Workforce Commission partner Whitney Boykin waited for the official presentation via an online video call with Texas A&M’s Joette Hardin during the Port Arthur school district’s monthly leadership meeting at the administration building.
“This is exciting,” Eddie said, noting that it’s the first time the district has been part of Texas A&M University’s Work-Based Learning Project. It will significantly enhance their ability to help students in the Titans in Transition 18+ program gain needed work skills to make them more employable and future-ready when aging out of the post-secondary transitional program the year they turn 22.
It's a population that frequently struggles to keep up with peers after completing high school, a recent study showing that 17.9% of graduates with disabilities are employed compared to 62.8% without disabilities, Hardin said.
“Schools can improve that through offering programs to get students job ready,” she explained. “High school employment experiences and high parental expectations for employment are the strongest predictors of post-secondary employment.”
They haven’t chosen a business name yet, but that will be part of the start-up learning process before they officially launch, baking and holding sales weekly on campus. Copley isn’t sure of the timeline for the launch, but hopes it’s sooner rather than later.
When they do get the business off the ground, they won’t be flying solo. Texas A&M offers plenty of support to help the select 30 Texas schools chosen for the grant find success.
“The real work starts now,” Hardin said in the presentation, noting that Eddie and Copley already had to get a rigorous business proposal in place when applying for acceptance to the program.
The pair based their project on one that’s had great success at West Brook High School, where special education students in a similar transitional program have run a successful cookie baking and sales business that garners big buzz and big profits each sale day.
“Our goal is to make a sustainable business that can continue,” Copley said, adding that she not only wants it to continue for future Titans in Transition but expand and grow, as any successful business model hopes to do.
In turn, her students, current and future, will learn how to start, maintain and grow a business from the ground up. These are real-world skills with real-world implications for their future and life success.
That’s in line with the goals of Texas A&M’s Work-Based Learning Project, whose mission is to “give students the skills needed to engage in competitive, integrated employment, and be job ready to work in an employment setting and earn a competitive wage,” Hardin said.
For students managing disabilities, their diagnostic category in terms of physical or learning abilities doesn’t have to dictate quality of life or future success.
It’s an opportunity that Superintendent Mark Porterie is thankful to bring to students in the Port Arthur community.
“When someone gives you something (and especially $10,000 to make it possible), you have to be thankful,” he said.
“Workforce skills and ethics are very important, and we want our students to understand the importance of getting a job and being able to take care of yourself – especially our special education students.”
The Work-Based Learning Project is a project with the Center on Disability and Development at Texas A&M University.
To read more visit the Beaumont Enterprise online at:
https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/port-arthur-educators-win-10k-grant-work-based-19929196.php
Learn More About Work-Based Learning:
https://cdd.tamu.edu/wbl-project/
Caption: Transition Coordinator Germain Jackson Eddie speaks as teacher Shannon Copley holds up a copy of the ceremonial check awarded to the Titans in Transition 18+ program, which received a $10,000 check Tuesday morning after being accepted into Texas A&M University’s Work-based Learning Project. The funds will help them start a student-run business for special education students in the 18+ program.
Photo courtesy of Kim Brent/Beaumont Enterprise
Author: Gabby Gaspard
Published: November 19, 2024: 12newsnow.com
https://www.12newsnow.com/article/news/local/memorial-high-school-receives-10k-from-texas-am/502-31dd2416-c61b-41ec-a8cf-e8e4bde25f2f
