Fountain Hills High School special education students wear a lot of different hats these days thanks to the recently implemented life skills program.

One week they might be a farmhand or pet groomer while, the next, they’re pitching in at the library or a local restaurant.

Teacher Alison Mabery decided to double down on the life skills offerings this school year, giving her students an opportunity to learn and grow through what many hold to be the best teaching tool of all: Hands-on experience.

To achieve this goal, Mabery said she reached out to the community for support and the community responded. She was on the lookout for a few businesses for her students to visit for their life skills education and soon partnered with Pals Inn Pet Resort, The Hills Pizza and Dessert, Fountain Hills Library and Reigning Grace Ranch. For the shopping and cooking portion of their lessons, the student make the local Safeway a frequent visit.

All of this happens, of course, when they aren’t too busy working on their on-campus garden that has been flourishing since fall.

“We started with The Hills,” Mabery said, concerning how she established these relationships with work study partners. “I knew (owner) Ken Galluppi from working with soccer, because he sponsored us last year, so I reached out with a text message.”

Mabery said she asked about bringing her students in to learn some job skills and Galluppi was quick to offer his support.

From there, Mabery was able to line up a series of businesses eager to open their doors to the program.

At Pal’s Inn, her students handled mopping, providing water for the dogs, playing with shelter dogs, washing windows and the like.

“The work is great but then there was the perk of, you know, paying with the dogs,” Mabery added.

Over at the local library, they’re in the process of re-shelving some of the books. Mabery’s students, including Kevin Douglass, Gabe Batchelor, Mikayla Olsen, Colie Englier and Sidney Bernabei, to name a few, are helping refurbish the covers and labels before they go back on the shelf.

Over at The Hills, jobs included everything from wiping down menus and replenishing condiments to rolling napkins and breaking down boxes.

Finally, heading out to Reigning Grace, the local students are working with miniature ponies and the like in the form of exercise and grooming.

“They’re doing some really great sessions, too, concerning emotional and social concepts,” Mabery added. “These jobs help them work on some of the big words, too, like responsibility and dependability.

“Self-awareness is big, too. They are learning that the horses act how we act so, if we’re frustrated, the horses will be frustrated. If we’re calm, then they’ll respond in the same way.”

For the fall semester, Mabery’s students worked with Pal’s Inn and the library. This semester, they’re visiting Safeway for the cooking lessons, then doing their work study at Reigning Grace and the library.

When asked what her students enjoy most about their work study projects, Maber smiled and said “the perks.”

“Pizza at The Hills, playing with the dogs at Pal’s Inn and the horses at the ranch are an awesome draw,” Mabery said. “Even kids who weren’t necessarily into the idea of being on a ranch have come around and seem to be enjoying themselves more.”

Mabery said that, on top of educating her students through life skills, she’s happy to see the program similarly educating the community about her students with special needs.

“They are a part of our community and I love that they can have these opportunities in real work settings,” she continued. “Last year they worked with Feed My Starving Children, which was great, but we really wanted to keep it focused on the local community this year. The kids live here, and we like the idea that the community may see an opportunity to bring them in so they don’t have to find a job that’s 30 miles away.”

Looking ahead, Mabery said that she’s always on the lookout for additional opportunities for work study projects around town. She’d like to move to a quarterly schedule instead of semester-based, which would require some additional partners starting next fall. Anyone interested in getting involved may contact her at amabery@fhusd.org.