Calhoun High School held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 10 to officially open its state-of-the-art retail skills training facility for special needs students enrolled in the high school’s “Prep for Life” program.
Calhoun is the only public high school on Long Island to introduce an on-campus retail store that is fully staffed by special education students.
“It’s really cool,” Antonio D’Aquaro, 17, of Bellmore and a student in the program, told the Merrick Herald. To learn retail sales, D’Aquaro added, “You used to have to go to BOCES. Now we get to do it at our own school.”
The Stable, named for the high school’s Calhoun Colts sports mascot, will serve as a new hands-on learning environment that will allow Calhoun’s special educators and job coaches to train “Prep for Life” students in various retail skills that will enable them to be successful and self-supporting adults. The store will sell clothing and other school merchandise.
The high school is a 2012 Transition Award recipient from the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities for their dedication to successfully transitioning youth graduating from high school into employment. October is National Disabilities Employment Awareness Month.
“We are really proud of how a group of really caring people did a really great thing for our students who need the most support,” Calhoun Principal David Seinfeld added. “The goal is to make them whole.”
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