In June, students in the Structured Learning Experience (SLE) program celebrated their hard work in the community with a breakfast for their employers in the community. The Calais School partnered with local businesses—including the Parsippany-Troy Hills Library and CareOne—to offer our students real-world work experiences through career internships. The SLE breakfast was a wonderful opportunity to say thank you to the staff, students, and community members who have been so generous with their time and talent.

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Students debuted their video at the SLE breakfast in June, which honored the local businessmen and women who have worked with and guided our students.

Moreover, 12Plus students worked with media communication teacher Mrs. Damer to create a video about their hard work this year. During the breakfast, Mrs. Damer reminded everyone that the video was a student project and expressed just how proud she was of the students’ hard work. From pre- to post-production, the students worked on the video to reflect their experience in the program. A student executive produced the video and the final project debuted at the SLE breakfast:

Loretto Dapiran of the Parsippany-Troy Hills library could not say enough good things about the students with whom she worked. She emphasized the need for programs like these, stating,

“You don’t know how many people who know and love individuals that have been affected by disability.”

We at The Calais School could not be more grateful or happy with our community partners, who welcomed our students with warmth, empathy, and concern. Lisa Vallo, SLE Coordinator of Community-Based Programs shared how touching it was to see people in the community work with and care for our students. She shared how local businesses were “so willing to help our students,” and added,

“It was very touching to see local businesspeople take the time to sit down with our young men and women and show them how to do things.”

The Calais School Structured Learning Experience Program enables students to experience a supervised, in-depth learning experience that offers the opportunity to explore career interests within one or more Career and Technical Education clusters. Each year, The Calais School partners with more and more local businesses to offer our students real-world work experiences through career internships. Students rotate through career clusters to see what jobs they do (or do not) enjoy and what employee skills they have or need to work on. SLE encourages students not only to survive in the “real world” but to thrive, advocate for themselves, and find and commit to work that is meaningful and enjoyable for them.