For students in our 12 Plus Program, thinking about what comes after Calais can be scary. There are so many possibilities! So many choices! Too many unknown variables.

It can be a little overwhelming to consider all of the opportunities that lie ahead for us. When we take the time to break it down into smaller, more manageable parts it gets easier to handle. That’s what the Life & Leisure curriculum, supplemented by community-based instruction, is all about.

Each year The Calais School deconstructs the huge pie that is life and slices it into bite-sized pieces.  Together, we answer questions like: What is it like to go to a 4-year college? A 2-year college? A trade school?

We explore what it means to be an active, productive member of our community by doing some community service. We use financial literacy strategies when we go shopping to be sure we’re educated consumers. Recreational outings such as mini-golf, hiking, museum visits and bowling keep us physically active.

Living Independently is often a big concern too so we’ve devoted two days a week for our 12 Plus Program students to practice these skills at the H.I.L.L.S. (Helping Individuals Learn Life Skills) House located at Centenary University.  Each week on Wednesdays and Fridays the students and several job coaches visited the house located in Hackettstown, NJ.

While at H.I.L.L.S. House, each student receives a job assignment by the coaches. These assignments were designed to help the students learn tasks needed to achieve continued success and independence in the future. Job assignments included cooking, food shopping, house cleaning, laundry, safety procedures and organization skills. As part of our Transition and Career Services offering, our community-based instruction and Life & Leisure curriculum deliver an array of useful skills to empower our 12 Plus students.