Ready, set, hike! The Brecksville-Broadview Heights special education class has kicked off the start of the new school year with school pride and tons of excitement.
Andrea Wheelis and Jeff Sidaway are both Intervention Specialists that work with the students in the special education department at BBHHS. They talk about the many things the students in the special education classes do throughout the school day and the school year.
The students in the class learn many life skills as well as completing jobs around the school. Logan Welkley, sophomore, is a student in special education who just so happens to be “Employee of the Month” for the month of September. This is due to her impeccable job of completing tasks around the school.
“My favorite job is bees depot,” says Welkley. Bees depot is where the students deliver papers and make copies for teachers.
“We do so many fun things that it is never boring. I don’t so much have to follow a scripted curriculum like a lot of teachers do. We get to integrate a lot of skills like cooking, daily living skills, how to do laundry, budgeting and things like that. My favorite is the hydroponic pods,” says Wheelis.
The hydroponic pods are placed in both special ed classrooms and they are used to harvest lettuce and other produce. Both pods have a name: Gary and Prometheus, and there are required jobs each day to ensure the produce grows and is healthy.
“Everyday we check the PH [for the hydroponic pods] and the nutrient level. We have to make sure the water is above the pump and we harvest about once a month. Most of our produce goes to the cafeteria where it is used to make food, but sometimes we grow too much and they can’t even handle it, so we send it home,” says Wheelis.
Although Wheelis and Sidaway have separate classes, they partner a lot when it comes to activities, such as cooking.
Tony Djukic, sophomore, says, “My favorite food to cook is pizza.”
Welkley says, “My favorite food we’ve made would be the donuts. They were so good!”
The special education classes also participate in what are called “teammates.” “It’s our integrated gym class, so it’s our students mixed with students who take regular academic classes. They do various physical activities together, which leads into Unified Sports,” says Sidaway.
Unified Sports is a special olympics organization where you compete against other schools throughout the year. These competitions are during the school day where their teammates class is used to practice for the competition.
Right now, Unified Sports is in their flag football season. “In the class, we are in groups where we practice throwing and catching,” says Djukic.
“For game day we either go to another school or we stay at home. We play other schools, so we bring our own lunch, pack water, and then they keep track of the scores as we play,” says Welkley.
Each game is roughly 20 minutes long, where everybody gets to play everybody. In the winter, Unified Sports plays basketball, and in the spring, they play kickball and cornhole.
“Something that’s really cool about Unified Sports is our gen-ed partners. They play, but really they are helping out, and letting our kids play,” says Wheelis.
Both invention specialists are hoping to expand, not only with Unified Sports, but also with art classes.
With hopes of the new art classes, these Bees are always hard at work making huge differences around the school.
If you are interested in participating in “teammates” next school year, reach out to your guidance counselor when scheduling comes around.
