SNOW HILL — Community Work Experience (CWE), a program operated by Worcester County Public Schools (WCPS), is helping students with special needs develop practical skills by connecting them with local businesses.
While students are learning how to be more confident and comfortable in real world settings, CWE is also giving the community a chance to interact with special needs students in new ways. Organizers hope the experience will be an eye-opener for all involved.
CWE is coordinated through Worcester Technical High School (WTHS) but available to all county students with special needs starting in high school. The program places students in real-world working environments at local businesses where they learn about that career field and build the skills that they will need for life after high school.
“Our goal is basically to explore different careers to see what skills you have, what your struggles are and try to match your interest to a particular career area and there’s a wide variety here to choose from,” said program coordinator Matt Elburn.
CWE has been run through WTHS since 2009 but has roots going back to about 2000. The original program was coordinated by Cedar Chapel Special School (CCSS) and that group still participates every year. Out of the 20 or so students who are usually active in CWE at any given time, three to five are usually from CCSS.
“Our goals are the same,” said Belinda Gulyas, principal of CCSS. “We just might fulfill them in a different way in that we look a lot at what are the communication needs of students.”
Many of the students entering CWE from CCSS have non-verbal or limited verbal skills. While this presents communication challenges, CWE is able to give participants the tools necessary to “level the playing field” and allows them to interact with their work environments, according to Gulyas.
Through CWE, students are able to work summer jobs at area businesses. During the school year, some students also work part-time. Being part of a company and having a real job helps many kids with special needs blossom and realize their potential, according to parents.
Beth Hansen, whose son has been involved with CWE for a number of years, said the benefits were immediate and obvious.
“It’s given him confidence … it’s just a snowball effect,” she said, adding that the improvements have carried over from the workplace to home.
The program gives students a taste of what careers could be like after graduation. There are 31 participating businesses across Worcester currently covering a variety of fields and career paths. But the basic skills that are developed are universal and go beyond any single profession.
“A lot of it starts with self-advocacy,” said Elburn. “That’s one really big one. I didn’t really understand it until a couple of years ago. Just being able to understand your own disability and advocate for yourself.”
At the same time that students are learning on the job, their employers and fellow employees are learning about the students. Many may not have interacted with individuals with special needs prior to CWE but the experiences have been overwhelmingly positive, according to Gulyas.
“Kids like to go to work. They like to be a part of the world that everybody else is. They want to be a part of that community,” she said. “And what a better way for us to teach our community about what our kids can do.”
In addition to placements in local businesses, CWE also has a partnership with Wor-Wic Community College that allows students to experience post-secondary level education programs. Through Wor-Wic, CWE has options for culinary arts as well as office skills and customer service. There are also three competitions for students in CWE offered by SkillsUSA, a national organization dedicated to education and helping develop a skilled workforce.
With everything being offered, Hansen felt that the only area where CWE could see any improvement is in visibility. The program needs a lot of exposure because it’s something that all parents of children with special needs in Worcester should know about, she said.
“We kind of stumbled into it and it was life-altering,” Hansen said.
Not only is it good for the students but it showcases just how generous and caring the local business community can be, she added. In the same vein, Hansen couldn’t say enough about the work that Elburn has done with CWE, calling him “a saint” who works unbelievably hard for the kids.
On top of placing students in businesses and organizing a roster of job coaches to help them become acclimated, Elburn works to improve participants’ understanding of the money they might be earning.
Everything boils down to truly living up to the public school system’s philosophy of offering “multiple pathways to college and career readiness,” according to Gulyas.
Moving forward, the plan is to work with more students, more businesses and improve post-secondary offerings and the ever important transportation system that gets students to their jobs.
For more information on the program, contact Elburn at [email protected] or call 410-632-5557 or 443-614-9493.