Five graduating seniors in Greenfield-Central High School’s Functional Academic program received certificates at a special graduation ceremony hosted by Greenfield Tri Kappa on May 4.
Pictured, from left, are: Zion Solis; teacher Emily Weaver; James Nulliner; Destiny Buja; teacher Courtney Majors; Jayden Harvey; teacher Kathleen Burke; and Abi Caudill, along with school-based support dog Kaden.
GREENFIELD — The mile-wide smiles said it all.
Five seniors from Greenfield-Central High School’s Functional Academics program proudly held up their certificates and grinned at a graduation ceremony hosted by a local Tri Kappa chapter last week, when students and their families enjoyed cake and punch and slideshow highlighting their time at the high school.
The philanthropic sorority hosts a graduation ceremony each year for the high school’s Functional Academics students, who will earn an Alternate Diploma or a Certificate of Completion at the end of their senior year.
This year’s graduates include Destiny Buja, Abi Caudill, Jayden Harvey, James Nulliner and Zion Solis.
Molly Champion, student services coordinator for Greenfield-Central Schools, said the students have worked diligently to learn necessary life skills, overcoming learning or physical challenges and developing strategies to support independence as future adults.
While many of Functional Academic students attend general education classes with their peers, they reach graduation by fulfilling an alternative set of standards set forth by the Indiana State Board of Education in language arts, science, social studies and math.
The standards, known as Content Connectors, are designed to measure the knowledge and skills of students with significant cognitive disabilities.
Susie Coleman, assistant principal at the high school, said Tri Kappa’s Upsilon Chapter in Greenfield has hosted the Functional Academics graduation ceremony for the past 15 years, having inherited the program from the nearby Pendleton chapter.
“The program provides a time for everyone to come together and celebrate the accomplishments of these awesome students,” said Coleman, a longtime Tri Kappa who chairs the Greenfield chapter’s special education committee.
At the graduation ceremony, the chapter gives each graduate a binder to help them stay organized and succeed after high school.
“I love this program and am proud of Tri Kappa for hosting it. Some of these students may not walk in the traditional commencement program, and it is a wonderful way to honor them. These kids are fantastic,” Coleman said.
Champion said the ceremony is a highlight of the students’ academic careers.
“It’s important for these kids to celebrate their accomplishments,” said Champion, who helps oversee Greenfield-Central’s Functional Academic programs in grades K-12. “They need to be recognized for how much work they have put into their education, and their families need to be recognized for all the support they give them.”
The Functional Academic program teaches modified academic standards along with independent living skills, with workloads modified to meet each student’s individual needs and abilities.
“They do a lot of independent learning of how to be successful, functional adults in the real world,” said Champion, who said many students will rely on support from their families or group homes as adults.
The students apply real-world learning throughout the year, like when they host a Thanksgiving dinner for high school staff. “They’ll cook everything and set up a big buffet for the staff to enjoy,” said Champion. “It’s one of the things they enjoy doing most each year.”
At the May 4 graduation ceremony, teachers Kathleen Burke, Courtney Majors and Emily Weaver presented each student with a character trait certificate that described skills each student has built over their time in the Functional Academics classroom.
“Traits such as enthusiasm, resourcefulness, determination, sincerity and compassion helped the students and staff alike to help everyone get to this point of graduation,” said Champion.
The pride was evident on the faces of students, parents and staff, as each student was presented their certificate in the high school’s media center.
The ceremony was bittersweet for the teachers, who will soon say goodbye to the students at the end of the school year when they are eligible to receive their diplomas along with the rest of the graduating class June 3.
“This is going to be a hard one for us as we are losing five amazing students,” said Weaver, “but with leaving comes a time of new and everyone will be getting jobs or going somewhere to continue to grow.”
