Project LIFE

Project LIFE is a pre-vocational program with classes located in Fairport, Henrietta, and Brighton. Students entering the program will participate in three 12-week internships. The Project LIFE curriculum consists of eight units; each unit is assessed two times a year to determine progress. Academics are focused on employability skills, life skills, and community skills. Students regularly participate in activities such as cooking, grocery shopping, accessing public transportation, pedestrian skills, wellness, and much more.

Teamwork:

• Working together 
• Communication skills 
• Listening skills 

Workplace Safety:

• Identifying safe/unsafe situations 
• Problem solving unsafe situations
• Identifying community signs 

Social Skills & Communication:

• Reciprocal conversations 
• Following directions 
• Self-Advocacy 
• Problem solving 

Personal Finance Literacy:

• Identifying/Counting money 
• Wants vs. Needs (income, expense, balance) 
• Financial literacy vocabulary 
• Working within a budget 
• More/Less 
• Sales price/Comparison shopping 

Technology:

• Basic computer functions 
• Emails  
• Basic data entry 

Preparing for Employment:

• Personal information 
• Filling out job applications 
• Mock interviews 
• Realistic job goals  

Maintaining Employment:

• Punctuality and attendance 
• Attitude, effort, and behavior 
• Accepting feedback 
• Social communication 
• Self-Advocacy 
• Sick calls 
• Time/Elapsed time  
• Sequencing 
• Quality vs. Quantity 

Life Skills:

• Cooking
• Laundry
• Grocery shopping
• Cleaning
• Grooming and appearance
• Transportation 

Students can participate in three 12-week internships per year. The program is based in the community, at businesses and organizations like Core Life Eatery, Savers, Monroe One BOCES, and Unistel. Depending upon placement, students complete 8–15 hours at their internships each week. We maintain a small student to staff ratio to personalize the needs of our interns.

Interns must:

• have a desire to build employability skills and want to work.
• follow the Project LIFE dress code and have appropriate hygiene.
• follow all Monroe One protocols.
• be active participants in lessons, their internships, and activities throughout the year.
• be able to be left alone for 5–10 minutes (10–20 minutes or more when able) when in their internship (we work up to this).
• have the ability to complete multiple hands-on tasks.
• always demonstrate appropriate work behaviors.
• be independent in their self-care needs.
• demonstrate safe behaviors in the community.
• navigate the building independently

• Weekly community trips  
• Community fitness facilities to promote physical activity and social skills learning 
• Monthly grocery shopping  

Students are transported to and from Project LIFE by school district buses. 

Skills practiced on a weekly basis: 

• Walking in a group 
• Using sidewalks 
• Navigating parking lots
• Safety awareness
• Understanding community signs
• Access RTS buses for community trips 

• Special Education Teacher 
• Transition Specialist and Work Based Learning Teacher
• Associate Teachers support Project LIFE students at internships and in the classroom
• All related in-school services as stated on their IEP
• Social workers support community-building activities and Healthy Relationships Curriculum