The practicum of human services class baked and served baked potatoes to teachers and staff Jan 28. Coach BJ Smith collaborated with Ms. Nakia Patterson from the Transition to Life program to create this event, called Takin’ Taters.

“We wanted to teach our students independent skills, budgeting skills, cooking skills, shopping skills and everything that goes along with that,” Coach Smith said.

The students went to the store to buy what they needed before traveling to Achieve Academy, where the Transition to Life program is located, to use their kitchen to bake the potatoes.

“Each morning we were at Achieve for about three hours prepping the ingredients and getting everything ready,” Coach Smith said. “We were baking and wrapping the potatoes the 25th, 26th, and 27th , then served them during Power Hour the 28th.”

This event teaches the students about how to do day-to-day activities, such as buying and cooking food, as well as learning how to work together.

“The expectation is to see my students go and pick out these items to buy, and see them working together as a team,” Coach Smith said. “I want to see teamwork, independent skills, and them collaborating and communicating with each other.”

Takin’ Taters was originally supposed to take place after spring break of the 19-20 school year. However, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, schools were shut down and the event was cancelled.

“The Transition to Life program applied for and got a grant last year for this,” Coach Smith said. “We were going to do it, we had raised the money and sent out the orders and everything, then COVID hit and we weren’t able to. Ms. Patterson, with Transition, reached out to me and asked me if we wanted to try again this year.”

The class mostly focuses on a type of learning called community-based instruction, where the students learn from their environment and experiences. They frequently go into the community and work on building relationships and learning these skills.

“I want other students to see my students and talk to them and build relationships with them,” Coach Smith said. “We go out into the community and they really do live up to being a Raider for Life. They’re out talking to people, smiling at them, holding doors for them, and I am really proud of how far they’ve all come.”