Five excited CHCCS high school students arrived on the UNC campus on Wednesday, November 1, heralding the launch of this year’s PATHSS-Bridge cohort (Project Achieve for Transitioning High School Students). They settled into a conference room in Abernethy Hall with a chorus of comments like “I am so ready for this” and “I can’t believe we’re here!” With one career coach, one assistant and their program coordinator, Su Wannamaker, these young adults began to explore and adapt to their new learning environment.
By the second day of the program, the students were deep into work and self-advocacy lessons, practicing technology skills on their iPads and building community with each other and their instructors. By week’s end, students were introduced to potential job sites; they chose their jobs at Davis Library and the UNC dining services Beach Cafe based on input from the transition facilitators.
During those first few days, each student acknowledged how much walking is involved when working on a college campus. However, their excitement continued, undamped by the increasing degree of responsibility and commitment.
Adela Van Name, a consultant to the program said, “As a parent of a current PATHSS-Bridge student, and a parent that has been involved since the inception of PATHSS, I am encouraged by the first activities and hope that this sets the tone to continue to build the wonderful program and relationship that PATHSS initiated four years ago with our many supporting UNC partners.”
Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools will continue to grow this work-based learning program through TRAC (Transition Ready Agency Collaborative), which the CHCCS school board approved in mid-October.
