The B.R.I.D.G.E.S. Class from Cypress Bay has gone virtual! Facilitators Kathy Gorman-Gard and Donna Mansolillo have been holding their Life Skills class digitally via Zoom. Although the learning style has changed and students will have to adapt, the class will be continuing to learn independent living skills so they will be ready to transition to their post-secondary journey.
On the first day of virtual learning, students were overly excited to see one another after going two weeks of not being in school. They immediately started talking up a storm sharing stories left and right. One of the students, Sam, mentioned how great it’s been having two teachers for this class and how he wished there were two teachers in his other classes.
The plan for the virtual B.R.I.D.G.E.S. program is to meet twice a week and focus on mock interview processes, filling out job applications, and completing resumes. In order to perfect the students’ interviewing skills, they will be using the Virtual Interviewing Software for Real World Success (ViTA) which was developed by the Dan Marino Foundation team along with the USF Institute for Creative Technologies. The ViTA is specifically designed for students with disabilities to help better prepare them for their future job interviews. In addition to the VITA tool, students will also have to dress professionally as if they were going in for their interview.
We applaud our amazing B.R.I.D.G.E.S. facilitators for working so hard over the past few weeks to alter their lesson plans for their students in this difficult time. Stay tuned for more details!