Committee Lends a Helping Hand to Special Needs Students

The jump to high school can be tough for anyone, but it has the potential to be especially daunting for students with special needs.

So when students from the district’s -- which serves individuals with cognitive disabilities -- aged out of and moved up to for the first time last year, the school’s student government officers took it upon themselves to help ease their move.

“We wanted to help them kind of transition from middle school to high school and get involved in school activities and get involved with the rest of the school community,” explained senior Laura Wagner, who chairs the committee that was formed last year in response to the Bridges students’ arrival.

This year, under Wagner’s watch, the Helping Hands Committee has sharpened its focus as it works to raise awareness of the and attempts to better integrate them into the high school community.

Senior Daria Voskoboynikov, who sits on the student government’s executive board and oversees Wagner’s work on the Helping Hands Committee, said the job she’s done to foster the committee’s growth has been phenomenal.

“The change that has taken place is incredible,” Voskoboynikov said. “Laura has gotten [the Bridges students] to come to our general assembly meetings, which is where a representative from each homeroom in the school comes. She gets their whole entire class to come. They love just being a part of something bigger.”

Wagner said she wasn’t sure how the Bridges students would react to being included in the school’s general assembly meetings, but she invited them anyways and they’ve really taken to the process.

“The kids are really sweet, and they just really, really love getting involved and that’s something that’s so visible,” Wagner said. “Every class gets represented at general assembly, so why not them?”

Part of getting the Bridges students more involved in the high school has been as simple as giving them a reason to venture out of their specially modified, but relatively isolated classroom. 

As the high school is structured, there are three major wings and one smaller, more isolated wing that hangs off to the side and houses, among other things, the Bridges classroom.

“Ninety percent of the day last year they were just in that room, only with each other and their teacher, and we didn’t think that was right,” Voskoboynikov said. “If they’re a part of our school they shouldn’t be kicked to the back of it. They should be welcomed and involved.”

Other projects Wagner and the committee have undertaken to better integrate the Bridges students include simple things like making sure a calendar of upcoming school events is posted in their classroom and inviting them to take part in the school’s annual clean up day.

“They’re so appreciative of every little detail and it seems like we’re not doing crazy things, it’s just very, very small things,” Voskoboynikov said. “But the thanks that we get back is just incredible.”

During free periods, Wagner and Voskoboynikov sometimes visit the Bridges students to play board games or bake, and have been encouraging other students to do the same. In their opinion, it’s all about manpower and creating as many interactions as possible between the general student body and the Bridges students.

Through their dedication, the Helping Hands Committee has quickly grown into one of the largest and most popular student government committees.

Voskoboynikov, who began working with special needs children through the Club Fun program as a sophomore, said she loves being a part of the Helping Hands Committee because its results are so direct. 

"We see the results right away and we see the thank you right away," she said. "Just seeing their smiles is incomparable to any other thing that the high school does.”

For the remainder of the year, Wagner said the committee will be working to organize a field trip for the Bridges students, and also hopes to offer them arts and crafts activities and gardening projects in the spring.

Both Voskoboynikov and Wagner, who are also members of and act as liaisons between it and the high school, said they plan to stay involved with special needs causes even after they depart for college next year.

“It’s always going to be something that’s really important for me, just helping out any way I can,” said Wagner, who has a brother with special needs.

Voskoboynikov, who has applied to top-flight academic schools across the country, said she plans to double major in music and some kind of science. Wagner intends to focus her studies on marketing. Both have been accepted to Rutgers for the fall, but are still waiting to hear back from some of their other top choices.