ACHIEVE Program

HC ACHIEVE 12+ (18-21 years old)

Attaining Confidence Happiness Independence Education Vocational training through Experiences

The ACHIEVE program allows postgraduate students to transition into adult living by providing independent and workplace readiness skills.  In our Independent Community Living (ICL) class taught by Heather Beam, we utilize authentic learning experiences through community-based (CBI) experiences.  The functional skill sets include meal planning/preparation, consumer shopping, household cleaning/management, personal/community safety, financial literacy, time management, and transportation. Instruction also incorporates social skills, problem-solving skills, enhanced social communication, recreational opportunities, service learning projects, fundraising, and post-secondary opportunities.  Each year our students create, make, and sell beautiful handcrafted items from granola to apple jam to provide our students with some money to make personal purchases, buy food for cooking, and participate in exciting trips.  Our program usually goes out into the community about 1-2 times per week during blocks 1 and 2.   

Our Workplace Readiness Class (WPR) taught by Michelle Murphy, combines classroom instruction with community-based instruction and allows students to participate in 3 different, 11-week community work-based learning (WBL) internships during blocks 3 and 4, Monday through Thursday. Participation in WBL internships helps expand students’ transferable vocational and interpersonal skills needed for success in post-secondary employment.  Instructional topics include workplace safety, soft skill acquisition in time management, interpersonal and effective communication skills, problem-solving skills, the job search process, completing job applications, resume writing, and interview techniques while building strong work habits that promote job retention. By working alongside a school-provided job coach on a 1:1 or 1:2 staff-to-student ratio, students learn numerous job-specific and transferable skills and how to navigate the spoken and unspoken expectations of the workplace. With an ever-growing list of supportive business partners, students in the Workplace Readiness class have a wide range of work-based learning internship options to explore based on their interests and preferences before leaving Hunterdon Central.