Students exposed to new frontiers at Safeway Training Center

By Dory Chamas

Ms. Chamas' high-school class recently visited the Safeway Training Center at Gompers' Employment Services campus in Glendale.

Ms. Chamas’ high-school class recently visited the Safeway Training Center at Gompers’ Employment Services campus in Glendale.

Life is more than reading, writing and math. It also involves immersion in other skills necessary to succeed in both work and life.

The students in my transitional classroom recently made their first visit to the Safeway Training Center at our Gompers Employment Services campus in Glendale. Once there, they received an introduction to the job skills needed to work in a grocery store. As a group, we will be doing hands-on training with activities such as bagging, cashiering, stocking merchandise and recognizing the various departments in a grocery-store setting. The students will learn social skills as well as organizational abilities, money skills and customer service.

I believe this learning experience not only will benefit my students in their daily lives by giving them independence, but also will help them adapt to the community. I really am looking forward to seeing the new abilities they learn, because ultimately their success is my reward.

Dory Chamas, who earned her master’s degree in special education from Arizona State University, teaches our high-school classroom at Gompers Private School.