Abraxas Preparing Students with Life Skills
Launch the media gallery 1 playerAbraxas School of Ohio offers a unique class to students called Life Skills to prepare students for adult life. This class provides students with lessons in a variety of topics including cooking, cleaning, and budgeting. Students also learn about basic car maintenance and scheduling, how to complete and file a tax return, and gain vital job skills, including but not limited to: applying for a job, writing a resume, and techniques for a successful interview. The responsibilities of tenants versus landlords, interest, basic parenting skills, driving permit practice, basic household maintenance, and learning styles are included in the 10 weeks’ worth of lessons to round out the class. The course also provides students with the ability to earn certifications for CPR/AED/First Aid and ServSafe Food Handling.
Abraxas Principal Shelly Patrick said, “Life Skills is one of the most widely requested classes among students and is often considered a favorite when looking back on the completed course.” Former students praised the hands-on aspects of the class as their favorite part of the semester. Such tasks include preparing a weekly meal, mopping floors after cooking, and repairing holes in walls; to name a few. The students take great pride in the skills they learn and the certifications they earn over the course of the term.
Patrick praised Julie Pfeifer, the Life Skills class teacher, for her work. “She has taken great pride in developing the curriculum of this course to benefit the unique needs of our students. She really listens to the students to decide which topics will be most beneficial to the future needs of the students, and then adjusts the curriculum to meet those needs.”
Private Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF) Programs include the Abraxas School and FIRST School, which are funded through the Ohio Department of Education Private Residential Treatment Facility Pilot Program to operate the academic program at two of the three PRTF sites: Abraxas, located east of Shelby and Foundations for Living, located west of Lucas. These programs are also supported through Title 1-D (Delinquent) funds administered by Mid-Ohio ESC. Mid-Ohio ESC partners with the residential treatment program administration and staff to deliver an educational program that meets the requirements of the Ohio Department of Education for students in correctional facilities.