On October 16th, selected students and faculty from The Calais School had the privilege of attending the National Disability Mentoring Day event at the Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation campus in East Hanover.   It was an informative and heartfelt experience for everyone in attendance.  After the warm and interactive opening announcements, the Calais group was assigned a leader who escorted them through several career tables.  The students learned about various employment opportunities available at pharmaceutical companies such as Novartis.

The highlight of the event was motivational speaker and autism activist Eustacia Cutler who delivered the keynote address.  Ms. Cutler’s touching remarks on overcoming adversity served as an inspiration to all.   Ms. Cutler’s daughter, Dr. Temple Grandin is a  accomplished and world-renowned author with a doctorate in Animal Science and more than a dozen books and articles to her name.  An individual with autism, she frequently writes about her two passions: autism awareness and animal rights.

In addition to hosting the mentor day, Novartis Pharmaceuticals has also given their generous support to several projects at The Calais School.  Support from Novartis enabled our school to implement our grades 8-12 21st Century Science Program by providing us with mobile laboratory units, LED Advanced microscopes, digital microscopic cameras  and iPads for student use. In the past three years, Novartis has also helped fund The Calais School Fitness and Health and  iTEC Elementary Science Programs.

Thank you Novartis Pharmaceuticals for your continued support of our students and programming!