The 2015-16 school year will be exciting!
October 1, 2015
Together, we’ve spent the past ten years building an organization of which we can all be proud. We are who we are today thanks to the professionalism and exceptional dedication of our staff, the hard work of our students, and the faith each family has placed in us to provide educational and therapeutic services for their children. We begin the 2015-16 academic year with over 140 students enrolled in the Education Center, and in September, will open our 18th classroom. We will celebrate all of this, with old friends and new at our Homecoming Family Festival on Saturday, October 3rd!
During the first half of 2015, we underwent a thoughtful, complex process in order to plan for the future of Helping hands Center. As many of you know, part of this plan includes changing our name to Bridgeway Academy. Arriving at this decision was a long and emotional process as we worked to find a name and a brand that represents the important work we do while allowing us to grow in the future. Most importantly, we sought a brand that was mindful of the hard work and compassionate community that helped to define Helping Hands Center and honors the attachment that we all feel in our hearts to our original name. We will officially switch to the new name and brand in the first week of January 2016.
We will use the first half of the new school year to reassure our community that this is a transition in name and logo ONLY. Our mission remains unchanged. Our leadership will not only be the same, but will be reinvigorated by this evolution. We are more ready than ever to continue building on the great work that we’ve done together in the past and chart a bright course into the future.
Here are some exciting highlights of things to come:
- For the first time, we will have 9th graders in our building and will continue to build and strengthen the Middle School Skills program.
- We will embark on a year-long artist residency with visual artist Keo Khim, thanks to VSAOhio and its program, “Adaptation, Integration and the Arts.”
- We will partner with Local Matters and adapt their “Food Maters,” curriculum into every classroom. The curriculum will provide children with an understanding of what healthful food is, where it comes from and how it grows and will create unique opportunities for students to explore our school garden.
- Our October 3rd Homecoming Family Festival will welcome students, staff, friends and families, old and new, back to Helping Hands Center to conclude our 10th anniversary celebrations.
Please join us as we embark on our second decade of meeting the educational and therapeutic needs of students with autism and other developmental disabilities. Just as we all, together, have built this organization, we all, together, will build this bridge to an exciting future.
Sincerely,
Abby and Erin