G.R.A.C.E Students “Winging It” Under the Friday Night Lights

Students from Archbishop Hannan High School’s G.R.A.C.E. (Grow, Rise, Achieve Through Catholic Education) program are taking flight this year as they take over management of the northshore high school’s Spirit Wing bookstore. The G.R.A.C.E. students will open and operate the bookstore during all home football games, at lunch time and before school.

In its third year at Hannan, G.R.A.C.E. is an inclusive education program that meets the needs of diverse learners with exceptional learning skills that begins at age 13 continuing up to age 21. This year the program has 12 students enrolled.

“These students embody the spirit of Hannan, so it makes sense they are running the Spirit Wing,” said Madeline Kelly, G.R.A.C.E. director. “It has been a slow start, as is the case with most things that are new, but we are building momentum and our goal by mid-year is to have the students running the store with less assistance from the moderators and with more independence and freedom to run things.”

Kelly and her assistant director, Karen Ruiz were asked to take over running the school bookstore during the summer and they immediately thought this would be a great opportunity for their G.R.A.C.E. students to gain hands-on training in a real-world work setting. She added that this fit in well with the already existing PELS (Practicing Emotional, Life and Social Skills) program that is part of the G.R.A.C.E. curriculum.

“We are always looking for ways to better our program and bring new things to our students,” Kelly said. “It is a natural fit with our PELS classes where we teach skills like cooking and laundry as well as how to handle real-life situations. But, we were looking for a way to help older students gain job experience skills and took this opportunity as a blessing.”

The G.R.A.C.E. team developed a curriculum around the bookstore opportunity to teach the students about customer service, merchandising, merchandise folding, point of service, checking customers out, putting prices on items, etc.

“We use class periods to teach the students how to operate and work in a bookstore to get them ready for football games,” Kelly said. “To start, we plan on having two students working alongside of us until they get the hang of running everything.”

Kelly said it has been a beautiful thing to watch as the students have embraced their new roles in the bookstore and on campus. 

“I have seen our students as well as other Hannan students grow due to the G.R.A.C.E. program and their interactions with each other,” she said. “Not only the students, but also teachers are learning something new, the entire school is walking that path with Christ together.”

The mission of the G.R.A.C.E. program is to provide an individualized, Catholic, Christ-centered opportunity for students with exceptionalities to reach their maximum potential in and out of the classroom. 

“We hope students who work at the bookstore develop new skills that they can use outside of school and beyond Hannan,” Kelly said. “We always want to set them up for success and give them that opportunity to grow beyond the classroom with marketable skills. This has been such a great opportunity for everyone, and we can’t wait to see what the rest of the year holds for the students.”