- Hey everybody, this is crazy.
Connor, I'm here with Cookie Doug
and welcome to the Bethel School District Presents podcast,
- Connor Connor.
It's been a long time since I've said that.
What are you doing? This is the Bethel School District
presents a podcast about the Bethel School
District and we're back at it.
What kind of voice was that? What are you doing? I
- Was listening to Drive Time Morning Zoo Radio
today and I just got inspired.
I wanted to give it a try. Come on.
Don't you have a radio guy voice you can use?
- Well, I guess I do. It sounds like we
listen to different channels though.
But lemme lemme give it a go here.
Can we take the music off live from Bethel
School District Studios?
I'm Doug Boyles and this is the news. The time is 1201.
- Doug, that is not a radio guy voice.
- It is on NPR.
- Okay, fair enough. All things considered.
And we're talking radio today
because one of our guests today who happens
to be a student has the best radio voice you will ever hear.
But you'll have to wait a minute for that.
It's all part of our big story today on the Transition Lab.
- I love the transition program.
It's hands down my favorite
of our graduation ceremonies that we do each year.
And that's not just 'cause it's outside at Frontier Park,
but just seeing the faces of the families.
And it's a smaller ceremony with 15 to 20 students.
If you don't know, the Transition Lab program is
for special education students between the ages of 18
to 21 years old.
It helps students towards independence
and independent living, helping them get jobs
and community involvement.
It's really amazing and it doesn't get
enough light shown on it.
So let's shine the radio light on it today.
Connor, you headed over
and chatting with one of the teachers.
- Joining us today is NEP Shire.
He's a special education teacher at our transition lab.
So nep, for those who haven't heard about the lab,
can you tell us a little bit about it?
- Sure. So the Transition Lab, uh,
or transition program here in Bethel just serves students
that are 18 to 21
who are coming from self-contained programs
and planning for the rest of their adult life.
- And I understand a lot of
what happens here is work experience for these students.
Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
- Sure. So students are practicing getting jobs,
maintaining jobs, how to find jobs, how to find support
to get jobs and to keep jobs.
And then we practice a variety of different types of jobs
so they can explore
what their interests might be if they haven't
tried something they might not know.
So they can try a whole bunch of things.
- That's really interesting. And so if you had to kind
of pinpoint what is that the biggest difference
between our general K
through 12 special education programs
and the transition lab? Yeah,
- So the K through 12 programs are going
to be predominantly academic based
and focused on building those foundational skills.
And by the time they come to us, we start practicing, okay,
how do we put that into play?
What do we do now with all the things that we've learned,
uh, to find jobs, keep jobs,
and be independent in the community.
- And so can you give us a rundown on what kind
of jobs we're talking about?
What are these students doing?
- So we have practiced jobs in retail, clerical,
food service, housekeeping, childcare, animal care,
horticulture, uh, factory type things.
Automotive. We really have a bunch of different sites
that we use to practice job skills with our students.
- So these jobs aren't paid jobs.
They're, they're learning, the students are out there
learning how to do jobs and,
and kind of the skills required to do those jobs.
But sometimes they do turn into jobs, don't they? They
- Do.
So we have amazing business partners in the community
and a lot of them are very open to, uh,
letting our students practice those job
skills while we're out there.
Um, but building those relationships with our students
and families that end up leading
to paid employment opportunities later.
So it's not all just about practice, it's,
it is about building those relationships and those skills.
- What would you say is the end goal
for students that come into the program?
What do we want them to have when they graduate?
- I think one of the interesting things about transition is
we all graduated
or ended our school career with different game plans.
We all ended and went our own ways and forged our own paths
and so will all of our students.
And so some of us are gonna work
and some of us are not going to work
and some of us are gonna be very involved in our community
and some less.
Uh, so it really is about that individual plan of
where are we going, how do we get there?
What skills do we need to be the most independent
and less vulnerable members of our community
and contributing members of our community as possible.
So it's, it sounds like a broad answer,
but it really is that broad of a job.
Everyone is different and on their way
to somewhere different and that's what we like to focus on.
- So what's a typical day like in the transition lab?
- So the students arrive usually by school bus
or private transportation families or supportive adults.
They usually help setting up their own breakfast
or their own day, their own schedule.
Uh, students know if they're going on a community outing
or if they're going to, uh, one of the practice job sites
that we call crew assignments.
They're on a crew different days of the week.
We have different types of outings and assignments
and we like to focus on not just work, but we also do rec
and leisure activities
where we're practicing safely handling money,
accessing public transportation, any number
of skills we practice.
And one of my little sayings
that I always throw out there is transition is whatever we
say it is, because we're all going
to different places later.
The skills really are varied in numerous,
whatever we need is what we work on.
- And the great thing about this program is
it's a growing program.
In fact, we've actually added a second location.
Can you tell us a little bit about that?
- Sure. So Bethel's a really big school district
and there's a lot of students that receive support in
self-contained classrooms.
And so identifying that as a growth area,
we added another location serving students
that need additional supports for communication needs
as well as personal needs.
And so we are proud to add what's being referred to
as the Transition House or the Petit House
as another location for all students in
the program to access.
Some of us will have that as our home base,
but all students in the program get to access that so
that we have places to practice work skills
and community skills like the lab
and home-based skills like the House.
- And you've been at this for a while.
What would you say is your favorite part
of working with these students?
- My favorite part is those aha moments when we're working
with a student and they're able to communicate a want
or a need or um, a skill
or a success that they might have
struggled communicating before.
I, I love watching them be successful
and surprising themselves.
- Great interview as always.
Connor NEPs Shire is a teacher at the Transition Program.
Now, Connor NEP has a lovely voice,
but you promised me a great radio voice.
I'm just not hearing it there.
- You didn't, but that's 'cause I was saving the best
for last I went and I talked to some students.
Let's hear them. Joining us today is Krista,
she's a student at the Transition Lab.
So Krista, can you tell us
how long you've been a student here?
- I've been a student here for about three years.
- And what is your favorite part about the Transition Lab?
- My favorite part about the Transition Lab is getting
to not only know the students,
but getting to actually experience
what it is like actually going to a job.
- And I understand you guys do a lot of jobs.
What has been your favorite job out
of all the jobs you've done so far?
- I would have to say working at the farm
at Four Stars Farm and Graham.
That would have to be my favorite. What
- Was your favorite part about that? Definitely
- Working with the animals.
- I bet. What kind of animals do they have out there?
- They have horses, chickens, and mini goats.
- Since you've been here, you, it sounds like,
so you're getting a lot of great work experience.
Yes. You're getting to meet some other students.
What are your goals for the future?
What would you like to do when you graduate the program?
- It would be definitely getting a job
with working with animals.
- Fantastic. Well thank you so much
for joining us. I really appreciate it.
- Thank you. - I'm here with Justin.
Justin is a student at the Transition Lab.
So you're a Bethel kid.
You've been to Bethel your whole career
as a student, right? I started
- Like Rocky Ridge Verge,
then Cougar Mountain into Spin Away Wake High School.
- What's your favorite part about the Transition Lab?
- Doing best work and putting my iPad away.
- Do you do any of the work programs?
- Yeah, like I do task working
and I trip to the ice cream store like Baskin Robbins.
- Fun. What's your favorite ice cream flavor? Cotton
- Candy. Oh,
- That's a good one.
Okay. What do you like to do when you're not in school?
- All right, my not in school is taking the day off.
Watch some Netflix or Peacock or some Disney Plus.
- And I have heard that you have a great radio voice.
Could you give us a little demonstration of
what your radio voice sounds like? Sure.
- Bethel Radio, 97.5 boys, all the music Bethel,
97.5 we're the mountain dances.
- I love it. Oh man, you're gonna give
Doug a run for his money.
And, and I understand that you have actually listened
to this podcast, is that right?
- Yeah. I love your podcast and I give it thumbs
- Up.
Oh, thank you. We really appreciate that.
And we, we love having you a guest on the show.
What are your, what are your hopes for the future, Justin?
What do you want to do when you,
uh, graduate from the Transition program?
- Okay, when I graduate I'm gonna go to college and then
after that I'm gonna get my own Hollywood studio.
You know, my studio will be maimed. What picks pictures?
- Well, so you have some big goals
and thank you so much for joining us.
We really appreciate it.
- You too. You're welcome. - Connor, you weren't kidding.
Justin has a great radio voice
and when we heard he was a fan of the show,
we had to include him in this.
And who knows, podcasting might be in his future and
- The future is now because I handed Justin the mic
and let him run the show further.
- Hello everybody. And tonight we have some great fun,
but enough of that we're gonna talk to Ver,
who's the Bethel podcaster host.
Thanks for joining us on the show today.
- Thank you for having. - So tell
me about your podcast show.
- It's just a show we put out every week on Thursdays.
It's about educational stuff that's happening here in Bethel
and we get to meet cool students like you, Justin.
- Okay, so tell me about back in today, spike.
Tell me about the eighties, seventies,
or sixties or two thousands.
- I wasn't alive in the sixties
and I made the very end of the seventies,
so I don't know much about it, but the eighties were great.
I can recommend the eighties.
- Alright, so tell me about the future plans
about Bethel School District.
- We've got all kinds of great plans coming up
and you'll have to listen to the podcast
every week to find out more. Alright,
- Thank you so much.
Thank you for having us in and you join it.
- Thank you Justin. You too.
- And that's gonna wrap up this week's show.
Thanks again to Justin Krista
and NEP for being part of the show.
If you wanna learn more about the transition program,
just listen to the podcast again and take notes next time.
- Very helpful, Doug. But if you actually wanna learn more
about the program, just head over to bethel sd.org
and we got all kinds of information about the lab
and all of our other amazing programs,
- Including our equity department.
And we're gonna be chatting with them next week along
with a very important, okay, not as important as equity,
but a very important question. Connor. You know what?
- It's yes, Doug, we are going
to be entering the sorted world of reality tv. Ooh.
- Keeping Up With The Kardashians,
- Something like that.
You won't wanna miss it. See you next week.