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Next Steps Academy highlights student job placements, community partnerships
Summary
Next Steps Academy staff presented program highlights to the board, noting student employment placements at the Valley Center Rec Center and the intermediate school kitchen and describing community partnerships that support vocational and daily-living instruction for ages 18–21.
Next Steps Academy staff told the USD 262 board about recent student successes, partnerships and programming that support vocational and independent-living skills for students ages 18–21.
Why it matters: The program places students in local jobs and community roles as part of transition services. Board members heard examples of employment outcomes that district staff said demonstrate the program’s community integration and vocational training results.
Details from the presentation
Chris Edwards, the Next Steps Academy instructor, brought two students and outlined partnerships the program maintains with Valley Center recreation, local restaurants and area work sites. He said one long‑time student, Loyola (referred to as Loyola/Loyle in the presentation), was hired by the Valley Center Rec Center and was working regularly; another student, Elijah, was hired as kitchen staff at the intermediate school starting in August.
Edwards described the program as a transition service focused on vocational and daily-living skills for students ages 18–21. He said students work with parents, staff and area businesses — including Valley Center Rec, McDonald’s in Park City, Dillon’s in Newton, Wagontail Ranch and New Hope — to build skills for independent living and paid employment.
Jake (an IREC intern) said his Inclusive Recreation and Leisure, Employment and Connected Living (IREC) program brings students to the rec center for custodial and other job tasks, and that he and other community partners are piloting job-readiness workshops and structured routines for participants who do not qualify for the district’s transition program.
Program activities and outcomes
Edwards said the program has provided catering work, regular cooking projects, a cookie-of-the-month activity and community fundraisers; he cited a holiday tree fundraiser, a potato-soup fundraiser, and a growing end-of-year barbecue that now draws well over 100 attendees. Staff numbers given in the presentation: five staff members (four direct staff who train students, according to Edwards). Edwards described student progress — citing the two students who secured employment at the rec center and intermediate kitchen — as examples of successful outcomes.
What the board heard
Board members offered congratulations and praise for the partnerships and student hires. The district’s presentation served as a public acknowledgment of the program’s efforts to provide vocational training and community integration for transition‑age students.
