Archway Schools hosted its 12th annual Career and Technical Education Luncheon Wednesday, May 30th.

The event is put on each year to celebrate the relationship between the working students and local business partners for on and off-campus jobs. This year’s guest speaker was former Archway student Sam Toney who shared his story in hopes of inspiring current students and letting them know they aren’t alone. The Archway Schools’ Career Education Program enables students who have special needs with associated behavioral challenges to learn in the classroom and, on-the-job, the skills necessary to transition from school-to-work.

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“We are fortunate to have so many long-standing relationships with local business partners and are grateful that our students get to benefit from real-work experience. Since the program was established, we have experienced tremendous growth. Archway alumni attend this event and being able to see how they benefited from the program and hear how well they are doing is incredibly rewarding. Each of our students have individualized needs, and staff helps prepare each of them, providing supports for life post-graduation,” said Brooke Chmura, Careers Teacher at Archway Programs.

Next week Archway Programs’ Upper and Lower Schools will host its 12th Annual Career and Technical Education Luncheon on to celebrate the relationship between the working students and cooperative employers who participated in this year’s Structured Learning Experience and Community Based Instruction programs on and off-campus. The invite-only event will take place on Wednesday, May 30th in the Upper School Gymnasium located in Evesham, New Jersey. At the luncheon, there will be a special guest speaker and awards will be given to the students who excel at their job, as well as an award for the employers who make the Career Education Program so successful. The guest speaker for this year’s 12th Annual Career and Technical Education Luncheon is former Archway student, Sam Toney. Mr. Toney attended Archway’s Upper School for six years and graduated in 2010. During this time, he played on Archway’s basketball team and won the Student of the Year Award in 2010. Archway Programs’ staff is eager to have him speak at the event and is looking forward to students hearing his story. Mr. Toney’s hindsight can be another student’s foresight.

Archway Programs recently received a donation from Enterprise Holdings Foundation for the children served in their Partial Care Services Youth Programs, HOPE and DISCOVER. Children in the HOPE (Help, Optimism, Preparation, Empowerment) and DISCOVER (Direction, Improvement, Structure, Creativity, Oversight, Vision, Encouragement, Reward) Programs are between the ages of five and eighteen with behavior and/or emotional concerns that interfere with their daily living. With the donation from the Enterprise Holdings Foundation, Partial Care Services staff will be able to set up a “chill station” in each of the five group rooms to promote therapeutic, self-calming strategies and help nurture a sense of relaxation and healing. Adding the “chill stations” will provide students with a positive, safe place to give them a mental break to re-focus and calm down so they can return back to their group setting. This will allow the students to briefly get time away but still be in the same room under observation.

Students from The Archway Schools’ Horticulture Program visited the residents of The Fountains at Cedar Parke for a special Mother’s Day Flower Arranging Demonstration. Under the direction of Horticulture Instructors Kristine Henle-Blank and Hannah Gunson, the students showed residents how to create beautiful Mother’s Day Teacup Arrangements with colorful flowers and greenery. There was plenty of light-hearted conversation and socializing, as both students and residents shared stories, smiles and new found friendships. This was the second flower arranging demonstration by the Archway School students coordinated by both Horticulture Instructors, Careers Teacher Brooke Chmura, along with Susan Mantz, Activities Director of The Fountains at Cedar Parke.

Students from The Archway Schools’ Horticulture Program visited the residents of The Fountains at Cedar Parke for a special Mother’s Day Flower Arranging Demonstration. Under the direction of Horticulture Instructors Kristine Henle-Blank and Hannah Gunson, the students showed residents how to create beautiful Mother’s Day Teacup Arrangements with colorful flowers and greenery. There was plenty of light-hearted conversation and socializing, as both students and residents shared stories, smiles and new found friendships. This was the second flower arranging demonstration by the Archway School students coordinated by both Horticulture Instructors, Careers Teacher Brooke Chmura, along with Susan Mantz, Activities Director of The Fountains at Cedar Parke.

Students from Archway’s Just Kids Program at Tatem Elementary in Collingswood, created and won the NJSACC’s (New Jersey’s School Age Care Coalition) first ever annual Celebrate Afterschool Poster Contest! NJSACC, the Statewide Network for New Jersey’s Afterschool Communities, received over 100 posters from 14 different afterschool care programs throughout the great state of New Jersey. Poster submissions were due in March and created  by youth attending afterschool programs. Students in the Just Kids Program worked together and made a colorful puzzle piece poster listing out what they love to do in their afterschool program. They had a very special reason for choosing the artwork that they created.

Students from the Just Kids Program at Tatem Elementary in Collingswood, created and won the NJSACC’s (New Jersey’s School Age Care Coalition) first ever annual Celebrate Afterschool Poster Contest! The children in the Just Kids Program at Tatem Elementary have a very special reason for choosing the artwork that they created for the winning poster.

Students from the Just Kids Program at Tatem Elementary in Collingswood, created and won the NJSACC’s (New Jersey’s School Age Care Coalition) first ever annual Celebrate Afterschool Poster Contest! The children in the Just Kids Program at Tatem Elementary have a very special reason for choosing the artwork that they created for the winning poster.

Archway Programs hosted its 9th Annual Hands Around the Lake event on Wednesday, which promotes autism awareness. This is a community-wide event where individuals served, staff members and families all attended to show their support. The goal of the event is to educate others about autism, so that as a community, we can not only be more aware, but accept and include all of those affected by autism and other disabilities. Those who attended the event lined up around Archway Programs’ main campus lake and held hands while Executive Director of Education, Susan Lafferty, welcomed everyone and students from both of the Archway schools read facts about autism before the walk began.