Paul Szmal: FLX Morning continues. It is 7.52. I have a pair of guests. Joining me right now is Erica Sinecropi. She is part of the Special Education Curriculum Team at the Cayuga Onondaga BOCES. Erica, good morning. How are you this morning?
Erica Sinicropi: Good morning. I'm great. Thank you so much for having me this morning.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, good to have you and also we have one of the students from the program that we're going to be talking about. Jacob is here. Jacob, can you hear us okay?
Jacob: You bet.
Paul Szmal: All right, fantastic. Erica, let's start with you and talk a little bit about what this specific program is where we've got developmentally disabled people getting an opportunity to do some real-time work in real locations.
Erica Sinicropi: Yes, so our program is called the Community Experience Program is through Cayuga Onondaga BOCES but housed at Cayuga Community College and we offer this program to students with disabilities who are of the age of 18 to 21 and they come to work on life skills, consumer math, employability schools and I think Jacob would say the most fun opportunity they have is in our work-based learning program where they get to go out into the community and contribute to local businesses demonstrating those employability skills that they're learning in the classroom.
Paul Szmal: And Jacob, I understand you're getting ready to graduate from the program.
Jacob: Yep, 2026.
Paul Szmal: So how much fun have you had so far?
Jacob: Great. Yeah? I did cooking, the work-based learning, doing math and name it.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, you're working right now with the gang over at Cat Scoots 3D Prints and Novelty and the Finger Lake Small. What's your favorite thing to do there?
Jacob: Well, I get to sleep, vacuum, trash, recycle and the owner Chris let me use the RT car.
Paul Szmal: Nice, very nice.
Paul Szmal: Erica, Cat Scoots is just one of several local area businesses that are participating as partners in this program.
Erica Sinicropi: That's correct. We actually work with eight different employers in our community and I'd like to give them each a shout out because the work that they do with our students is invaluable to us. We couldn't do what we do without Cat Scoots. Angelo's Pizzeria, CountryMax, Westminster Manor, Auburn YMCA, Port Byron Library, the Welcome Center, New York State Equal Rights Heritage Center and Pure Beauty Salon. Yeah, they are great businesses that are partnering along with Keoghan and Agabusis as part of this program.
Paul Szmal: How many students, Erica, are in the program?
Erica Sinicropi: Currently we have 13 students in the program. This year we actually were able to open up two classrooms because the opportunity for students at this level is expanding and we want to be able to meet our region's needs.
Paul Szmal: Jacob, what do you plan on doing once you graduate? Do you have an idea for like a career path or something that you'd like to do?
Jacob: I'm gonna make my own movie.
Paul Szmal: Oh, that's awesome. I love that idea. Yeah, yeah. Do you have a goal of maybe reaching Hollywood someday?
Jacob: To make movies as cheaply as possible.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, there you go. There you go. All right, so Jacob is going to apply some of the skills that he has learned in the program. Erica, he wants to be a movie maker. That is a great sideline or great occupation, I should say. Okay.
Erica Sinicropi: Yes, and Jacob actually took some time on his own to write a script of a movie based on Memorial Day recently.
Paul Szmal: Oh, wow. So is that going to be the first project you're going to try to do, Jacob?
Jacob: Yeah, it's actually a short film called Decoration Day.
Paul Szmal: Hmm, okay. Okay, can you tell me a little bit about what it's about?
Jacob: Well, you see, it's based on Memorial Day but it goes all the way back to the beginning of Decoration Day.
Paul Szmal: Ah, okay, okay. Sounds like it's going to be pretty fascinating. I hope to get a look at it once you get it finished up, bud.
Jacob: Thanks.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, absolutely. Erica, if people are interested in finding out more information about this program, how do they go about doing that?
Erica Sinicropi: Yeah, so if students and families are listening and they're curious about what the program offers and how it might meet their individual needs, they would reach out to their home school district and their home school district would contact Hugo Anadagibosis to go through a referral process that we would then take a look at individual students to see if they're appropriate. If individuals are just more curious about what we offer and what we do, they are certainly welcome to reach out to me or our director, Jennifer Singer, over at Hugo Anadagibosis in the Special Education Department.
Paul Szmal: And is there a specific enrollment time for this or is the process kind of a year-round thing?
Erica Sinicropi: Yep, it's open enrollment, year-round process. Typically students are referred after they complete their required years of high school and this is a bonus to get them through until they're 21 to encourage them to get the skills that they need to be productive, independent individuals in our local and larger community.
Paul Szmal: So Jacob, I think you would give this program on a scale of 1 to 10, probably a solid 10 at least, right?
Jacob: Yep.
Paul Szmal: All right. Jacob, I wish you the best of success moving forward and thank you for spending some time with us to tell us about your experiences this morning.
Jacob: No problem. You have a good day.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, yeah, you too. And Erica, thank you for joining us as well. I hope both of you have a happy holiday season.
Erica Sinicropi: You're welcome. Thank you and same to you. Take care.
