New student orientation will be April 23 through April 25 at Canyons School District’s newest school, Life Skills Academy.

Life Skills Academy, formerly known as Canyons Transitional Academy, provides instruction and support to students with special needs who have aged out of traditional high school and would benefit from additional training in the classroom and community and with job training.

The doors opened in January at the students’ new school, in the former Crescent View Middle School, 11150 S. 300 East, in Sandy. LSA offers many of the facilities as a traditional school with a cafeteria and gym, but also some vocational and home life classrooms so students learn those skills, said Linda Hall, who is in her second year as the principal.

“Our numbers have grown from 38 students to 55, and we’re projecting next year, we will be over 60 students,” she said. “This school is amazing for our students because now every teacher has a classroom where before we shared open spaces. We have a kitchen lab where they practice their skills. We turned one classroom into a studio apartment, so they’re able to practice their skills there. We have a partnership with the state’s vocational rehabilitation office so our students are learning skills and are connected to job placements. We have students who are in paid internships. The LSA staff is trained as job coaches; we are teaching our students independence so they will be job ready as possible.”

LSA is for students between ages 18 to 22, who have completed their senior year in high school and have an individualized education plan team determine that pre-employment services are needed. Many students are working to complete graduation requirements or are achieving a certificate of completion.

“At age 14, the IEP team at each school begins discussions about transitions—graduation, skills, training, goals, interests—with the student and family so we know the best way to help students,” Hall said.

Once a student ages out of LSA, she said the staff helps to connect families to Social Security Disability and Utah Parent Center.

“We have Medicaid right here on site that families can access,” Hall said, adding that the school partners with the state’s workforce services to offer additional student support.

Grayson Argyle likes being a LSA student.

“I come to Life Skills Academy to learn life skills and learn how to become an adult, do some math and money management,” he said. 

Hall said that students often make purchases with replica dollar bills at the school store so they can learn the value of money and purchase school supplies.

Argyle travels on TRAX to his job placement at Cal Ranch.

“I organize things on the shelves. It’s great. I make sure everything is in place,” he said.

He isn’t the only one. Many LSA students learn to ride TRAX and use other public transportation to get around the community to get to their job training or internships “because a lot of our students will never drive,” Hall said.

LSA has partnerships with about 15 area businesses, such as Scheels, Treehouse Athletic Center, Sam’s Club and Draper’s branch of the Salt Lake County Library.

“We’re always looking for more opportunities for students to have work experience,” she said, adding that many positions within Canyons School District are filled by her students. “Students pick jobs based on their interests, and can learn about jobs in-house, like the district cafe. At school, we have the cooking facility so they learn about recipes and cooking and then, will be familiar with that. We have a flower shop here on our campus where the kids are learning about flower arrangements and that may be an area of interest, we can help them find an interest in the community.”

Argyle said that in class, he has learned how to prepare menus and then, cook the meals.

“We’ve made pizza, soup and rolls and even, sushi sandwiches,” he said.

Also offered in the summer is a work-based learning program that pairs students with special needs with employers so students gain hands-on experience in the work setting. Students work with job coaches who guide students to meet the employer’s needs for four to eight weeks.

“It provides a meaningful experience for our students as well as the businesses,” Hall said. 

To prepare students, LSA has weekly community access days, where what students learn in the classroom translates to the community. For example, they may look at a recipe, create a grocery list and then on their community access day, go shopping and learn about pricing and purchasing needed items.

“One class recently was learning about security disability and how do I access that or apply for that? The students then went out to a disability Social Security office and did a tour of it and learned all about it. Another time, our students learned about cosmetology and then visited a beauty salon and learned to how to become a cosmetologist and own or work in a community business,” she said, adding that another class tied in what they were learning to touring the state capitol.

Students attend classes Monday through Thursday and pick their own classes from those the LSA staff designs to help students learn skills.

“Every semester is a different set of classes based on the students’ interests. As a team we meet to offer classes based on the needs of students’ IEPs, which then they, with the help of their guardians, can sign up for,” Hall said.

For example, students’ IEP goals may be improving written language. So the course may be about finding a job, that will include writing resumes and letters of interests. Another course may focus about internet safety, and they will learn how to safely email someone and search safe websites. They also have a leadership class which enrolls about 10 students. Students learn planning skills as they organize activities for the school and learn how to design and make fliers to promote the events.

“We teach those skills they’ll need to be independent in the community, and then, we’ll have centers every morning that may tie into the classes, such as mock interviews for verbal and social interaction or counting coins to learn budgeting or other skills based on students’ IEP goals,” she said, adding that others may include learning about route planning, stranger danger, AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) devices, multistep directions and more.

Argyle realizes he will need to be able to communicate at his job placement and in his dream of becoming a voice actor. He was planning to perform his aptitude at the school’s upcoming talent show.

Graduation this year, the first in their new school, will be special, Hall said.

Eight students will be given their certificates of completion by Canyons Board of Education members Nancy Tingey and Karen Pedersen at commencement, 12:30 p.m., May 14 at the school. Their graduation theme, “No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else,” is by P.T. Barnum.

The PTSA has arranged to get North Face backpacks from Scheels, which they’ll pack with useful items, from first aid kits to umbrellas, the students will need post-graduation. They will be given at the graduation lunch.

“We wanted to do something special for our students because we are the end of public schools when they reach 22, so we try to help them be as independent as possible, and reach whatever goal that they have,” she said. “We take that very seriously. My staff is incredible. They love their students, and they want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to support those students.” λ