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HOPEhouse Happenings HOPEhouse Happenings November, 2014 Here’s what’s going on at HOPEhouse at Cotting School! Riley’s Interview 3 Keaton interviews Riley to find out more about his housemate. Grocery Shopping 6 Max tells us about everyone’s favorite past time at HOPEhouse. Working at CMS 7 Riley talks about his custodial job at Coolidge Middle School. Fall has been busy at HOPEhouse! The HOPEhouse students have been hard at work settling in to the new school year, but have had time for some fun, too! October was a busy month at HOPEhouse! From hosting our first ever Back to School Night for parents; planning for, preparing, and hosting a spooktacular Halloween party for Cotting’s Upper School classrooms; and keeping up with our regular schedules of work, college, and chores, we have had our hands full! November is shaping up to be just as busy as we learn about the midterm elections, prepare for Thanksgiving, and maintain our usual routine of gym class, grocery shopping, and rec and leisure! Between the long weekend for Veteran’s Day and the Thanksgiving holiday, November is a short month, but there is still plenty to do. We hope you enjoy reading about what we have been up to in the latest edition of HOPEhouse Happenings! 1
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HOPEhouse Happenings November, 2014 HOPEhouse Halloween Party a Huge Success! On Tuesday, October 28, Riley, Max, and Keaton opened their home to the Upper School students at Cotting School for a Halloween bash! By Max and Mrs. Garceau The Halloween Party was run,
decorated, and catered by
HOPEhouse, with a lot of help from
Mrs. Thibodeau, Mrs. Kelly,
and Mrs. Roper. All of the
delicious treats and snacks were
handcrafted by HOPEhouse’s finest
students: HOPEhouse, Keaton,
Riley, and Max .
We transformed HOPEhouse into
party central with many spooky
Halloween decorations. We had
spider webs, skeletons, orange
lights, streamers over the dance
floor, and many other fantastic
details throughout the downstairs
and upstairs of HOPEhouse. Most of
the décor was borrowed from staff,
and some brought in from students.
No details were spared on the food,
2 either. We served phantom punch
with frozen ice hands floating in it,
ghostly bananas, and ghoulish
chocolate-covered strawberries.
with their friends. Many people also
hit our spooktacular dance floor,
where you could dance to a mix of
Top 40 and Halloween music.
Once the preparation was over it
was time to start partying! Most of
the Cotting Upper School came
(which is like 50 people)! As soon as
our guests came in we were ready
with fun games, a photo booth, and
dancing. Mrs. Garceau ran a
game where we turned our guests
into mummies by wrapping them in
toilet paper. Everyone enjoyed
being mummified!
Mrs. Wharff ran
the photo booth
where everyone could
dress up in costumes
and take silly pictures
Overall the Halloween Party was a
huge success! We received so many
compliments from our guests; they
all said they couldn’t wait until next
year to do it again!
“Wrapping people in toilet paper
was my favorite part!” said Max.
Keaton really enjoyed the photo
booth, while Riley’s favorite part
was seeing all of his
friends. Everyone
enjoyed themselves,
which really made all
the hard work and
preparation worth it!
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HOPEhouse Happenings November, 2014 Riley’s Interview By Keaton “I chose to interview Riley because he is my housemate. I wanted to know more about my housemate.” -­‐ Keaton The first question was do you have If you could be an animal, what a middle name? And he said yes. would you be and why? He wants His middle name is James. to be a dog because he thinks he would be good at the sounds and he What’s hard for you? Riley wants to be in dog shows. answered it’s hard for him to stay on task. What’s your least favorite thing at HOPEhouse? He says he doesn’t What is your favorite thing at like homework. HOPE house? He said he likes gym class. What’s your favorite sport? He said he likes football. What do you want to be when you grow up? He wants to be a Do you like living at HOPEhouse and custodian. why? He likes living here because he likes living with different people. What’s your favorite color? He likes maroon. I learned some things about Riley. I learned that his middle name is What’s your favorite animal? He James. says he likes horses. 3 1
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HOPEhouse Happenings November, 2014 Raise the Bar HIRE Career Fair Sponsored by Work Without Limits October 31, 2014 Recently Keaton and Riley attended the Raise the Bar HIRE Career Fair in Norwood, MA. This career fair was sponsored by Work Without Limits and focused specifically on finding meaningful employment for people with disabilities. questions for the different employers who would be at the fair. On the day of the career fair they wore nice clothes and brought copies of their resumes with them to the event to leave with employers they talked with at the Fair. Keaton and Riley registered for the career fair earlier in the month and submitted current copies of their resumes with their registration. Then they prepared Some of the employers Keaton and Riley spoke to were: Boston Children’s Hospital, Spaulding Rehab, TD Bank, Wegman’s, and Mass Department of Transportation. 4 Both students indicated that they felt like there were jobs available through the different employers at the Career Fair that matched their skill sets. Keaton noted that he spoke with a few people who have office positions for workers to shred papers (a task he does now,) and Riley said there were companies looking for janitorial and maintenance workers as well (again, work Riley does now). Keaton and Riley did a great job advocating for their work preferences when talking with Keaton said his favorite part of the various representatives at the the job fair was talking to the Career Fair. They were able to representative from TD Bank. practice the self-­‐advocacy skills “He was really nice,” Keaton says. that they work on every day at “He had a lot of good HOPEhouse in a real-­‐world, information.” Riley agreed that vocation-­‐based situation. They the job fair was helpful. “I liked were professional and talking to the guy from Mass independently communicated DOT,” says Riley. “He has jobs in their strengths, needs, and facilities and I like doing that interests as they pertain to work. work.” Way to go, guys! HOPEhouse Happenings November, 2014 HOPEhouse Events: November 2014 Event Descriptions Grocery Shopping: Rotates depending on the students’ individual schedules and when they have gym class. Gym Class: Adapted Physical Education class with Mr. Cuddy 1 hour a week. Boy’s Club: Cotting School afterschool program for middle-­‐ and upper-­‐school boys. The HOPEhouse students have been asked to mentor the students in the program by participating in the activities with them, either in the gym or on the field at Cotting School or in the rec room at HOPEhouse. Last day of Boy’s Club is November 13. House Meeting: Structured time for HOPEhouse residents to talk about their week, bring up conflicts or problems they are having, and plan for rec and leisure events. R&L: Recreation and Leisure. Happens on Tuesday of each week, students participate in the events previously planned at House Meetings. Soccer: Program put on by A ccesSport America, taking place in the Cotting School gym. Young adults with disabilities receive a high-­‐
energy workout with quality coaching including skill building, resistance training, and conditioning games of soccer. Cost of each class is $10. This is not a mandatory HOPEhouse event. Thanksgiving Dinner: Open house for students, their families, and staff to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday together. Parents will be receiving more information soon. Questions? Ask a HOPEhouse resident or email Mrs. Wharff [email protected] or Mrs. Thibodeau [email protected] for more information. 5 1
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HOPEhouse Happenings November, 2014 Grocery Shopping By Max “I like grocery shopping because I like to eat.” -­‐ Max Here at HOPEhouse, Keaton, Riley, and myself go grocery shopping at the wonderful Star Market in Waltham. Before we go to the Star Market, we all make specific lists based on what we have meal planned for the week. Also, we write down which aisle numbers all our food items are in off a copy of the store directory. This helps us be more organized while at the grocery store so we don’t end up scrambling around 6 like penguins trying to get in store we work as a team formation in a snowstorm. getting the food off our lists. We go grocery shopping because we need to have I like grocery shopping food in the house, so we because I like to eat, but it don’t starve to death! is otherwise boring and Usually we buy food, time consuming. It’s not sometimes we also pick up the most fun thing, but it is our own medication essential! prescriptions. We shop on Monday nights or Tuesday day. When we go shopping depends on our gym schedule. While at the grocery HOPEhouse Happenings November, 2014 Working at Coolidge Middle School By Riley I work at Coolidge Middle School in Reading MA. I am a volunteer custodian. “I like to work at Coolidge Middle School. I feel awesome and fantastic to work there.” -­‐ Riley I am there Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I eat my lunch there. I get my food from the lunch ladies in the cafeteria on those days. The people who I work with are nice. I work with Bo and Rafael. They are easy to work with, and we joke around. While I’m there I help Bo and Rafael out. I do vacuuming, take the trash out, and clean the cafeteria. Sometime I clean the windows, and set up chairs if they have an assembly. I like to work at Coolidge Middle School. I feel awesome and fantastic to work there. I am even getting an employee ID badge. I might want to work there some day when I leave HOPEhouse. 7 HOPEhouse Happenings November, 2014 Coming up Soon… Things we are thinking about… • Thanksgiving Dinner for Families and Staff • Decorating for the Holidays • Hosting a Holiday Party Open House Stay tuned for more information in the next edition of HOPEhouse Happenings! HOPEhouse at Cotting School 451 Concord Ave Lexington, MA 02421