Snohomish Transition Center program teaching young adults how to thrive

SNOHOMISH — On a recent Tuesday morning, young men and women stream through the doors of the Snohomish Transition Center.
Some are finishing class and heading off to jobs, while others are coming in for class or arriving for work at the center’s cookie bakery.
All are learning how to live after high school.
“We’re kind of a bridge,” said Tanya Witruk, co-director of the transition center. “It’s a big, scary world out there.”
The program, run by the Snohomish School District at its Parkway Campus, helps high school graduates age 18-21 focus on job skills, enjoy leisure activities, and live independently.
Students’ learning needs vary, from accessing transportation to keeping house to budgeting money.
Leaving high school “is like falling off a cliff for a lot of these students,” said center co-director Katelyn Klopfer. “We teach, but a lot of it’s us being case managers.”
The center employs nine paraeducators and utilizes various state services offered through the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation and Developmental Disabilities Administration.
Its 27 students attend classes at the center Mondays through Wednesdays and work volunteer jobs at various locations: the Snohomish Aquatic Center, Food Bank, and Co-Op; Fabulously Frugal; Grocery Outlet; and St. Vincent’s Monroe.
The center also runs an in-house Cookie Company and has an arrangement to work a coffee stand at Restoration Road Church.
Thursdays are field-trip days. Students might go grocery shopping, visit a local attraction or attend a movie. On a recent outing they learned how to ride a ferry.
“Their success stories are so different,” said Witruk. “For one student it might be getting to the center by them self. For another, it might be making breakfast by them self.”
Each student at the center has graduated from either Snohomish, Glacier Peak, or AIM high school. Each has an Individual Education Plan mandating post-high school services.
But there is no standard course manual for teaching these young adults who may have autism, Down Syndrome or physical disabilities.
Witruk and Klopfer, former elementary teachers, designed classes with input from “a lot of paraeducators.”
Students learn practical life skills such as how to plan, set goals, budget, choose work clothes and interview for jobs. At a mock apartment in the transition center, they practice cooking, cleaning and hosting guests.
“We give them the opportunity to make errors and learn from those errors,” Klopfer said. “There are no transition guidelines or curriculum. A lot of our students need support.”
Some students land paid jobs at local businesses such as Starbucks and Fred Meyer. A few earn paid internships with Pathfinder Manufacturing, which builds parts for Boeing.
And several go on to college or trade school or get online degrees.
Gage Schwieger, a Snohomish High graduate, hopes to work for the Everett AquaSox next year. He still has his ASB card, and keeps score for the SHS girls’ basketball team.
“I’m learning stuff about budgets and time sheets,” he said.
Emily Ray, 21, has volunteered at several places since graduating from Glacier Peak High. She currently works a paid job for Chartwell Schools and helps with the Cookie Company and party planning.
Ray said she’s saving her money “for important stuff, like getting a phone.”
Paraeducator Katy Cook has known Ray since elementary school. This is Cook’s first year at the transition center after working at Cascade View.
“This is so different than elementary school,” she said. “It’s all about stepping back and talking to them like adults.”
Cook has known one student at the center since he was five.
“Seeing him be social, going out in the community, his growth, maturity, that’s an amazing sight,” she said.
Not all students will be able to live independently. The center teaches them — and often their families — how to access the social and health services they will need.
The goal is to equip every student to live their best possible life.
“Everybody needs to have a purpose,” Witruk said. “A disability doesn’t negate your right to have a purpose.”
For more information or to order cookie delivery from the Transition Center Cookie Company, call 360-563-3417 or email SnohomishTC@gmail.com