Thank you to Cheryl Makin for this wonderful recent piece discussing our Matheny School PCAST (Person-Centered Approaches in Schools and Transition) program. Read the full article here.
At the Matheny School in Peapack-Gladstone, students absorb knowledge, progress and thrive − just like in a traditional school.
But Matheny − and its students − shine in their differences.
It is that sense of difference which drives Matheny School’s PCAST (Person-Centered Approaches in Schools and Transition) program.
For about a decade, the PCAST program has been a focus for the school’s “Super Seniors” − students over the age of 18. It’s a two-year student-driven class experience, said Christine Mayercik, the school’s speech language pathologist, that aims to ease the transition between students graduating from high school and starting in an adult program.
“Just like any other kid graduating from high school, it’s a big transition when you leave behind the school years and you move into that space, whether it’s going to college or going into the workforce. It’s a huge change,” Mayercik said.
The program is about learning life lessons you can’t learn from a book.
“PCAST helps them develop their sense of self, what they see as a good quality of life,” Mayercik said. “Their good days, or bad days, and their preferences are defined. We start putting that together so that they know who they are.”
