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East Hampton High School student Sean Lester carries the ball up the court during a unified basketball game against Patchogue-Medford earlier this year. KYRIL BROMLEY
Lola Garneau had a loaded schedule this past spring between her first Advanced Placement courses and varsity lacrosse, but that didn’t stop the then-sophomore from being part of what she’d quickly find out was the most joyous, meaningful and impactful part of her day, she related to the East Hampton Board of Education at a meeting on Tuesday, December 6.
That happens to be the hour she’d spend after school with students from the inclusion recreation club, who are members of East Hampton School District’s Life Skills Program. There, she helped them end their school days and gear up for practice on the unified basketball team. The district is also part of an East End unified soccer club, is the first to create an adult unified golf team and is gearing up to unveil its first unified bowling team later this winter. Unified sports matches students with intellectual disabilities with other students on a combined athletic team.
“I always left with a smile on my face. It really made me happy,” Garneau said, describing the heartwarming moments during the recreation club and buzzer-beaters at many unified games. “It was such a great experience for me.”
Special education teacher Krista Sanniola said she adores the students and the program.
“I get to work with some of the most amazing students in this school that bring so much joy to our lives every single day,” she said. “When we walk into school we never know what to expect. There are so many challenges that we face every single day, but we learn to overcome them by being extremely patient and flexible, and, most of all, by working as a team.”
The goal is to help students become as independent as possible. The program does so by teaching students daily life, interpersonal and employment skills. The teens start their morning with core academic classes like English, math and social studies, and work on job-related skills at East Hampton IGA. On Wednesdays, they go grocery shopping at King Kullen for ingredients to cook or bake with on Thursdays. Students work on those interpersonal skills every day in the classroom, and even more so during integrated nutrition, art and music classes.
“I think adjacent socialization is so important,” said special education teacher Ethan Mitchell. “And the post-graduation aspect is probably the most important part of our jobs — making sure they have places to go afterward.”
Mitchell said the after-school club has grown to involve more than 100 students, saying most Wednesdays it’s standing-room only.
Garneau has been moved seeing the effects of life skills firsthand.
“I had a non-verbal student in my first-grade class,” she said. “And last year I came to inclusion recreation club and was able to talk to him and have a conversation and that was really important to me — it showed what this program does from the elementary level all the way up. What the life skills program is doing is even more amazing than what we’re doing.”
Senior J.P. Amaden agreed.
“It’s a great part of our day and great part of our week,” he said. “It’s great for us, but it’s even better for kids like Sean.”
Sean Lester is a member of the program, the club and the unified basketball team. He said he loves to learn, particularly math, and sing and dance during March Madness, especially to the band Big Time Rush.
“Basketball is my first sport,” he said. “I like the games and playing with all my friends, like J.P.”
His parents, Margaret and Danny, say this opportunity has meant the world to their family.
“We were always looking for something for him to do,” his mother said. “He sees his older brother going out to football and baseball practice, out with his friends wondering when he’d get a chance to do that. There weren’t any after-school or even in-school programs, and now, he’s putting on a jersey and going to practice and playing with his friends and his brother. It made a big difference.”
“I don’t think we can thank the teachers and the Board of Education and the administration enough,” his father added.
Garneau grew emotional talking about one student she’s developed a relationship with — who she’s known less than a year and explained takes some time to warm up to others — who gave her a hug for the first time last month.
“These things mean a lot to me. This program does a lot for me,” she said through tears. “These children have so much compassion, and it makes me really happy to be a part of something like this. This program brings the community together, and I can’t wait to see even after I graduate how much it grows.”
