Achi news desk-
Quest School has expanded to a second campus in Calgary that is an innovative learning hub for high school students and young adults with moderate to severe developmental disabilities.
Allie Gauthier is the vice principal of the high school and says that when the space was being designed, a lot of thought was put into making it special for the 50 students.
“We created a kitchen for students to use, life skills labs, laundry services,” he said. “All those things that give students a place to practice their skills to increase their independence and they are going to take those skills with them into adulthood.”
Demand for Quest’s programs has been on the rise with its waiting list quadrupling in the past three years. Expanding their programs with this new campus will ensure that more students have the best educational opportunities available so they can thrive.
“Our school has been around for over 40 years so we’ve been serving the Calgary community throughout that time,” said Gauthier. “We have heard from our families about the need for a special place for our students, especially our high school students.”
Reach full potential
Gauthier says the campus helps build relationships with students and their families who watch them grow and reach their full potential.
“All of our students have complex needs, so moderate to severe disabilities and we have multi-age classrooms, so they’re not based on grade level,” she said. “They are grouped more based on their needs, their social skills, not necessarily their grade, or their age level.
“What’s huge,” he added, “is that our students come here, they have peers who are friends, and they find a place to belong.”
Rahel Mulugheta, Quest program director, focuses on life skills such as hygiene, laundry, basic kitchen skills, social relationships, skills, volunteering for the older students in the adult transition program.
Physical and mental health, social connections, relationships and job readiness are also a priority.
“I think navigating adulthood is already hard enough,” she says. “I feel like these are the things you need to know and to prepare for adulthood so I think that’s very important.”
Mulugheta says students discover their goals for the program and then try to achieve them through the activities taught.
“We even practice transport like buying a ticket, practice wayfinding, just community safety,” he said. “You have to stand behind the line, community manners, just things like that, I think these are very important, sometimes I kind of wish when I was in high school or in the college, they taught us those things.”
Mulugheta says all the life skills taught will help students gain confidence and give them what they need to apply for a job. She compares it to a stepping stone or launch pad for the participants for life after school.
Coffee Cart Fan
14-year-old Nik Sharma enrolled at the school in 2020. He would one day like to be a volunteer at the Spruce Cliff campus, helping to teach the younger students. But here, he is a fan of the Coffee Cart programme.
“It teaches you how to sell the coffee and how to use the money properly,” he said. “You count the money to make sure you have enough.”
Anu Sharma, Nik’s mother, says he is excited about the new campus and can’t wait for its opening in January 2024.
“What we ultimately wanted for Nick was a space where he would go where he would feel safe,” she said. “Academically, he’s going to learn whatever he’s going to learn but most importantly, we wanted him to have a chance to belong to something and to feel some pride in this community and to have habits like’ w sisters he goes to school with and he belongs to. somewhere.”
Now with two campuses, Quest would like to add two more in other quadrants of the city to alleviate its waiting list.
“As we continue to grow and expand, we’re looking for other opportunities in the city just to continue this community program,” Gauthier said.
Find out more about Quest School here.
