Students with disabilities, who finish high school and still need help transitioning to adult life, learn skills in a DPS program. Operating a school thrift store is one of the projects the students learn from.
Talasha Coleman is nervous about her upcoming trip to an art gallery riding the bus and light rail. She’s been training for this day, but it is something new for her to be out on her own with a friend. She also recently applied for two jobs, so mastering transportation is key. Across the table, Amir Smith talks excitedly about going to the store for the first time on his own over the weekend.
These accomplishments are something many people take for granted, but for these students at the Life Skills Center at Northeast Early College, these are big events and ones they talk about with pride.
The Denver Public Schools program is designed for 18-to 21-year-old students with disabilities who have completed high school requirements and need a little more time learning to transition from school to adult life. The program is designed around individual needs.
Students (from left) Avelino Valenzuela, Jocelyne Saldivar-Guerroro, Talash Coleman, and Amir Smith talk about their experiences learning life skills, and their excitement about taking trips to stores and museums on their own.
“For some students, it’s learning to take care of themselves in a healthy way. Maybe it’s safety in the community or getting a job at the food bank,” says Amy Swisher, senior manager of transition and post-secondary for DPS.
The space where the program is housed is intentional with rooms where the students can work on their life skills. There’s a kitchen, washer and dryer, and a school store where they can work. Swisher says this shouldn’t feel like high school.
“They’re coming and going. They don’t come in here all day and sit in a class.” The students have outings in the community. “We really are just making sure we’re fostering skills outside of school skills, because they already have a diploma.”
After scrubbing, sweeping, and cleaning all the surfaces in their classroom, the janitorial team in the life skills program takes a break and plays the card game Uno together.
There are two centers in Denver, the one at Northeast Early College at 11200 East 45th Ave. and another at North High School. There are currently 134 students—and the classrooms and space, funded by a 2020 bond, is open to students from across the district.
Twenty-one-year-old Jocelyn Saldivar-Guerroro has been with the program for three years. The self-proclaimed lover of acting “goofy” takes a moment to reflect on her time learning new skills.
“I started out like a small, simple girl, and then I go up to each of the levels I’ve gone through. Most likely people can tear some people down, but most likely they can get back up all the time.”
Amir Smith, also 21, says the program is his favorite place. “I mean it changed my life.”
Students move through the rooms of the center working and learning. Some of the students are planning a bulletin board to showcase each student’s favorite pet or animal.
Saldivar-Guerroro and Smith will finish the Transition to Independence Program (TIP) in December. They say they’ll miss the school and their friends, like Avelino Valenzuela, whose face lights up when the four talk around the table. Valenzuela likes to fix cars, but is also learning cooking skills here and says “spaghetti and meatballs” is his favorite dish.
“I think when we see that students didn’t have some of those readiness skills, and then DPS takes an opportunity to develop those programs to make sure that’s happening for every student—that’s equity. It’s right that they’re leaving us, and they are ready to go. We’re proud of that,” Swisher says.
The Northeast Early College campus is also the site of a public high school operating under DPS Innovation Status. Students can begin taking college courses as soon as they are eligible and can earn their two-year college, fully-transferable associate degree while still in high school.
A bulletin board displays the students’ art projects about who they are.
Principal Jen Warren oversees the campus, which has both the high school students and older life skills center students. She says it’s a good experience for the students to interact with each other.
“I love that the students who are focused on their high school diploma interact and cross paths with these students, and they go to the little store. We want to integrate more,” says Warren. “It’s positive and it’s healthy and happy and joyful, which is the gift that my other students get when they share a space.”
Front Porch photos by Christie Gosch
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