Adam’s P.A.C.E. is an inclusive post-secondary program and an extension of Riverside School Board’s alternative services, designed to meet the needs of students who are in their final years of schooling. Specific learning goals are designed through a person-centered planning process to meet the needs of individual students.
Three days a week, the students are at Champlain College where they audit a course in a discipline which appeals to them: social sciences, physical education, languages, etc. In addition, students strive to improve their functional academics, develop life skills, and learn work skills.
The students are not just present at the college; they are part of it, participating in leisure activities, joining clubs, and making friends. Two days a week, the students are on work-study in the community. Placements have included restaurants, stores, businesses, schools, universities, and seniors’ residences.
The program includes community-based instruction, job and mobility training, audited college classes and activities, transition planning, and inter-agency collaboration. Students also have opportunities to develop functional academic skills with a view to real life application, develop social skills with other people of similar ages, integrate in campus and community life and develop age-appropriate leisure and recreation pursuits.
ADAM’S P.A.C.E. began with a dream: Adam Taylor dreamed of attending Champlain College. As a young man with Down Syndrome, Adam had always attended community schools, learning and growing alongside his peers. As his classmates prepared for high school graduation and Cegep, Adam wondered: would he be able to go to college too?
It was Adam’s dream supported by other families with youth with special needs and the vision of Riverside School Board and Champlain Saint Lambert that resulted in the establishment of the first P.A.C.E. class in 2005.
Adam’s story is one of hope, resilience, and the future. His legacy carries on through the design of this program which builds self autonomy, academic levels, life skills and work study competencies for all those who walk through the door holding tightly to their dreams for the future.
The program was re-named ADAM’S P.A.C.E. to honor Adam and his role in the creation of this program. Sadly, Adam passed away after a courageous battle with leukemia.