How Special Educators At Spokane Community College Turn A Lifetime Of ‘No' Into ‘Yes'

Press release from Community Colleges of Spokane:

August 17, 2021

Taylor Baggerly has a present. It’s a photo he took just this morning, of something he’d never done before. He wants to show his long-time teacher Carla Edwards.

“For me?” Carla says, diverting her eyes from the pot of boiling water and pan of frying chicken to the smart phone held high like a trophy.

“I made my own breakfast today,” Taylor says. “All on my own.”

For many, that’s monotony incarnate: breakfast on a Tuesday morning. But for Taylor and others like him, it’s a milestone. It’s uncharted waters. It’s his white whale.

Because to some Spokane minds in need of special education after high school, cooking is a vital skill yet unlearned.

Not for long. Right here and now, Taylor is doing it. He’s cooking chicken. He’s stirring the sauce. Soon, he’ll offer it to dozens of classmates and eat right alongside them.

“I like to cook my own meals,” Taylor says proudly before digging into his plate of chicken alfredo and garlic bread. “I’m kind of a master.”

All in a day’s work at Spokane Community College’s People Accessing Careers and Education (PACE) Services cooking class.

Take a long, studious walk through the halls of the historic Lodge building on the south end of Spokane Falls Community College’s campus and what you see might overwhelm you.

Overlooking the Spokane River, the classrooms are beaming with students of all ages. Happy and cheerful, learning math or science or how to cook or dance. Anything, really, that will help prepare for them employment, independent living and whatever comes next in life for them.

Since the mid 1980s, PACE has been offered by the Community Colleges of Spokane in one form or another. It began as part of the shuttered Institute for Extended Learning and is now administered by Spokane Community College, though the classes themselves are taught on SFCC’s campus.

In a nutshell, PACE serves individuals with cognitive or mental health disabilities.

It’s a vital program offered to some of Spokane’s most vulnerable. Some students are young, fresh out of high schools, while others are much older, returning to the program after a several-year hiatus to learn a skill or brush up on a subject.

Jordan Gibson has been a PACE student since 2015. He comes back year after year because of the connection he’s made with his teachers. And his fellow students.

“I wanted to learn to cook on my own,” he says. “And to cook for family and friends.”

Each summer, PACE also offers a Pre-Employment Transition Services program for students attending contracted area high schools, called the Summer Academy. This program is offered to the community in partnership between SCC and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation within the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. Topics typically include workplace readiness and work-based learning experiences.

Classes are face-to-face and run for about two weeks. Then, it’s on to a four- to six-week paid internship.

Students Courtney Luther and Destiny Egleston, both 19, attended high schools in the area before enrolling in the Summer Academy through SCC.

For several months, the two could be seen in the aisles of the My Fresh Basket grocery store in Kendall Yards, stocking the shelves and helping direct adrift shoppers in need of help.

And – occasionally – goofing around, as close friends ought to do.

“Sometimes we get distracted,” admits Destiny, who enjoys eating donuts on her breaks.

This press release was produced by Community Colleges of Spokane. The views expressed here are the author’s own.