TP_051018

30 | May 10, 2018 | The tinley junction Life & Arts
tinleyjunction.com
Plant sales benefit Lincoln-Way students with special needs
Annual growing
project builds skills,
raises money for
programs
Amanda Stoll
Contributing Editor
Once or twice a week
Transition student Bill Moy
has gone to the greenhouse at
Lincoln-Way Central to water
the plants.
But the greenhouse programs
at Central and East are
about more than pretty flowers
or tasty vegetables —
both of which are flourishing
under the students’ watch.
The skills they are learning
by caring for plants and
operating a greenhouse are
the kinds of things they will
be able to use in any job they
may seek after their time in
the school district.
At Lincoln-Way East, the
greenhouse work is part of
the prevocational program
for high school students, and
is done during a class period.
At Central, the Transition
Program is for students with
special needs who have graduated
from all three of the
district’s schools to continue
to develop skills for life after
they turn 22.
“These are young adults
who will soon be entering the
community in a few years,
since they only have a few
more years left of being in
the transition program,” said
Josh Kreske, a teacher in
the Transition Program, “so
I think it’s good to support
them as they prepare for life
after they leave the Transition
Program as employees [and]
as community members
themselves.”
Kreske said the money
from the plant sale at Central
goes back to support
the “general wellbeing of
the program.” In addition to
learning those job skills associated
with the greenhouse
and the card-making business,
students also learn valuable
life skills like cooking
during the school day, which
has a different schedule than
that of the high school.
At East, Sarah M.
O’Connell, special services
department chair, said she
enjoys seeing students in
the special eduction classes
building confidence in the
prevocational classes, one of
which is in the greenhouse.
“It teaches them transferable
soft skills like following
directions, completing a task,
working with others, time
management, problem solving
skills, communication,
things like that,” O’Connell
said. “All of those things can
be transferred to different
vocational-type tasks.”
She said while some students
prefer to work with their
hands in the greenhouse, others
prefer to work on the business
side doing things such as
processing orders and sending
email communications.
“You get to see tremendous
growth in that independent,
problem solving that takes
place,” she said. “Quite often
at the beginning of the school
year, students are waiting for
the [paraprofessionals] or the
teacher to tell them what to
do next.”
After having help in addressing
different situations,
she said students start to take
the problem solving into their
own hands and make decisions
based on past experience.
“A lot of our life skills students
struggle with the confidence
to be able to do that,
and that’s probably the best
part in seeing that kind of
growth,” O’Connell said.
She said many people
think about education in the
traditional sense, but not all
students follow the same
track. The plant sale, then, is
a good chance for members
of the community to support
Jack Major, a student at Lincoln-Way East, waters plants in the greenhouse in preparation for the Special Services annual
spring plant sale. All proceeds from the sale benefit House of Blooms, Lincoln-Way East Special service’s prevocational
program. Photos by Amanda Stoll/22nd Century Media
the program financially while
learning more about the work
the students are doing to develop
skills they can use for
the rest of their lives.
“These are kids that may
have struggled academically,”
she said. “So for them to
experience success in school
in a different way — and really
with a skill that’s very
important for the rest of their
lives — that makes me happy
to see that.”
For Moy, the Transition
program has helped him create
goals for himself including
getting a second parttime
job, working to get his
driver’s license and saving up
for a car.
Each student is different
and their lives will take them
in different directions, but
they are all working on the
skills needed to become more
independent and confident.
Special Education teacher Jason Berg picks out plants to buy prior to Lincoln-Way East
Special Services Department’s annual plant sale, which will be held from 8 a.m.-noon
on Saturday, May 12, and Saturday, May 19. Some of the plant varieties that will be sold
this year include zinnias, petunias, coleus, snapdragons and begonias as well as grape
tomatoes, bush early girl tomatoes, and a variety of pepper plants.