Lakeland STAR: Growing with our Students

“I’ve seen the services at Lakeland STAR School and Academy provide students and families with a new sense of hope and dreams that previously were not considered,” said Eric Mikoleit, director of Lakeland STAR charter schools. “The services provided will allow our students to be “STAR”- Strong, Talented, Adventurous and Remarkable!”

To accommodate demand for these outstanding services, STAR is serving even more student. Now in its second year, enrollment at Lakeland STAR has nearly doubled, increasing from 20 for the 2018/2019 school year to 37 for the 2019/2020 school year, some without an Individual Education Plan. The number of staff has grown as well with two additional special education teachers, a new art teacher and more paraprofessionals. 

Success builds success. By experiencing success at school and within the classroom, students are able to transfer this out into their homes and community. “In a very short period of time, many students demonstrated an increase in their expressive and receptive communication skills,” Eric stated. “This has increased their overall confidence and attitude towards school. Parents have reported an increase in cooperative behavior at home and anxiety levels have decreased.”

One student, for example, entered the building last year as a freshman. Most of his language consisted of long strings of sounds that were difficult for others to understand. After evaluation and implementation of speech services over the past school year, he has increased his vocabulary score, greets staff and peers by name, and repeats words and phrases. He is also more interested in printed words. Communication has become extremely important to him as he strives daily to make his wants and needs known to others. 

PAES® LAB

The education that students receive at Lakeland STAR charter schools benefits not just the students and their families, but also the larger community.

“We have a huge need for entry-level positions in our community, and we have students that want to live and work in our communities full time, in integrative employment,” related Eric. “We're transition focused, so we hope to fill some of those voids for local businesses.” 

To make this possible, this year, Lakeland STAR dramatically increased the size and scope of its Practical Assessment Exploration System (PAES®) Lab. Students can explore nearly 300 jobs in five career areas, and learn what job skills they may already have – or what they might need to learn – related to these jobs. Thanks to the meaningful, hands-on experience and career information gained through participating in the PAES Lab, students going out to their first work experience in the community are better prepared, typically more comfortable and often have a better employment result.

Middle and high school students from Lakeland STAR and other Lakeland Union Consortium schools can “go to work” at the PAES Lab in the Howard Young Medical Center, part of Ascension in Woodruff, Wisconsin. Located within the hospital to give students integrated work experience, it is the first PAES Lab in the United States to be located within the four walls of a business.

“The PAES lab now includes First Step, tailored to help students with more significant disabilities,” commented Eric. “We’ve also more than doubled the amount of space in the PAES Lab to nearly 5,000 square feet, added a teacher, two classrooms, a sensory room and a driving simulator so we can begin teaching driver's education this winter.”

GOLF OUTING

Ongoing community support for Lakeland STAR and Autism Services was more than evident at the second annual Lakeland STAR Golf Outing.

Hosted in partnership with the Howard Young Foundation and the Minocqua Country Club, the event raised $688,613. All funds are used to directly benefit the students of Lakeland STAR, including the purchase of a driver’s education simulator. 

LOOKING FORWARD

As enrollment continues to climb, strong, ongoing community support will remain critical. 

“We definitely could not double our enrollment as we did this year within the current building,” Eric said. “If the current momentum continues, we will need to either expand our building here on campus, out in the community or possibly build a new school. Those are options we’re evaluating.” 

You can donate to the Autism Services Fund at the Howard Young Foundation by calling 715.439.4005 or logging on to howardyoungfoundation.org.