GOSHEN—On a Friday afternoon, Lori Rodriguez, 18, and Christopher Ullrichs, 20, both students at the Including Communities program in downtown Goshen cross the street on their way to their internship at Happy Buddha Yoga.
“Is it good to cross right now?” their para professional, Amy, asked at the corner of West Main Street and North Church Street.
“Nope,” said Rodriguez.
“Why not?” the Amy asked.
“Cause that’s a…”
“…a hand,” Ullrichs finishes for Rodriguez, pointing at the red blinking crosswalk light.
Ullrichs and Rodriguez are two of 10 students in the Orange-Ulster BOCES (Boards of Cooperative Educational Services) program that started last November in downtown Goshen. Including Communities pairs students with disabilities with Goshen businesses to develop their job skills through internships.
The downtown classroom next to Not Just Bagels serves as a bridge for 18 to 21-year-olds as they transition to the real world, or, as the program’s principle, Jodie Maassen puts it, once the school bus doesn’t come anymore.
The program was the idea of two teachers at the Chester STRIVE program who started wondering what was next for their students once they graduated. The STRIVE program serves students with Autism, Aspergers Syndrome, and Pervasive Development Disorder.
Jaime Paddock, one of those teachers, said they pitched the idea to the BOCES administration, who were “very receptive,” and that gave them the green light to start visiting potential intern sites.
They now have eight regular sites and several places where the students work on an as-needed basis in the Goshen community.
