Life After Summit School
Transition Planning & Work-Based Learning
The Transition Coordinator at the Summit School performs a variety of duties providing services to students preparing for life after graduation. These services include administering age appropriate transition and post-secondary planning assessments throughout the year. These assessments help students in developing post-secondary goals related to needs, interests, strengths and skills. The results of these assessments also help inform a student’s IEP and serve as a springboard for students’ research on career, vocational and/or college and independent living options.
The Summit Work-Based Learning program is designed to give students the opportunity to develop and strengthen “soft skills” for job readiness, as well as foster goal-setting and self-determination. Examples of important soft-skills include self-management, communication, problem solving and team-work. Our Transition Coordinator is continually building and maintaining relationships with employers and community organizations, coordinating both on-and off-campus work-based learning opportunities for our students.
Through developing and sustaining collaborative relationships with school staff, families, and community, our Transition Coordinator helps to ensure that students and families have access to available services and knowledge of appropriate resources post-high school.
“I am passionate about helping students realize their potential. Each journey is unique and this is what makes my job fun and rewarding.”
Life After Graduation
The Summit School at Nyack maintains an ongoing commitment to cultivating job readiness skills, providing effective transition planning, and supplying preparation for post-school employment for all of our students. Through the years, we have found that many students enter Summit lacking many of the essential tools necessary in today’s modern work world.
Kyle Hassell goes beyond bringing the community together
Summit School Senior Childcare Worker and Vocational Counselor, led a donation effort among staff and students last month in the wake of the Bronx Apartment Fire, finding the silver lining his students could grab onto.
Kyle Hassell has worked for Summit School over the last 20 years, playing a significant role in the lives of so many students throughout that time. As a Vocational Counselor, Kyle spends a lot of time off campus with students as part of the work-based learning program that prepares students for life after graduation.
“Seeing the kids move on and start the next chapter of their lives, that’s what it’s really about for me…I want to see them succeed,” he said.
In the following video, we learn about what happened from Kyle’s perspective in the days after the tragedy. Not only did Kyle bring the community together to help support those in need, but he used it as an opportunity to get students involved. Kyle’s ability to understand how these experiences serve the students is remarkable.