Students create special holiday feast

BY JOYCE BLAY
Staff Writer

JERRY WOLKOWITZ staff Students in Jackson Memorial High School’s vocational life skills class (l-r) Louis Weeks, Richard Childers, Kathleen Bratton, Matthew Alicea and Jennifer Trimble rehearse a skit telling the story of Thanksgiving before hosting a meal for the district’s special services staff. Thanksgiving came a day early to Jackson Memorial High School on Nov. 23 as special education students hosted their annual holiday feast for the district’s special services staff.

On the menu was turkey, traditional bread stuffing, applesauce, yams, mashed potatoes, broccoli with cheese sauce, corn, three kinds of bread – zucchini, cranberry and pumpkin – and two types of pies – apple and pumpkin – all prepared by the students, according to Allison Erwin, a spokeswoman for the school district.

To quench guests’ thirst, the students offered them a seasonal drink of apple cider.

In addition to cooking the Thanksgiving dinner, the students colored and designed individual invitations that were sent out to approximately two dozen administrators, teachers and district support staff who attended the celebration.

As guests arrived, students greeted them and showed them to their seats. When dinner was ready, guests were invited to partake in a buffet-style meal that students served.

After the main course, the students entertained guests with stories they had written about the first Thanksgiving. Tables were then cleared and dessert served.

For the boys and girls enrolled in the class, preparation of the event began long before their guests arrived.

The members of the class discussed their preparations with a reporter during a visit to the school on Nov. 19.

The classroom was festively decorated for fall with tissue paper cutouts of green apples, leaves, acorns and pumpkins taped to windows for a stained-glass effect. Colorful framed essays written by students were pinned to the bulletin board above ceramic sculptures of turkeys and pumpkins painted in vibrant shades.

Ana Rose is the class teacher. She is assisted by classroom paraprofessional Marie Liguori. Personal paraprofessional Paula Sheehan works with sophomore Louis Weeks, 15. Personal paraprofession-al Brenda Mersinger works with freshman Matthew Alicea, 15.

Sophomore Jennifer Trimble, 16, who said she has prepared applesauce at home with her mother, said her favorite part of Thanksgiving was being with family and friends. When questioned about her favorite holiday activity, she replied, “eating.”

Some students felt right at home preparing food for the holiday. Sophomore Richard Childers, 15, said he hoped to be a baker and to work with chocolate.

“I like to make people happy,” he said.

Some students thought nontraditional menu items were just as much fun to make or eat. Matthew said he liked lasagna with plain cheesecake for dinner.

However, Louis said he enjoyed making and eating pumpkin pies, also a Thanksgiving dessert staple.

“They all get copies of recipes to bring home” Rose said, adding that families particularly liked recipes for baking specialty breads. Of those, cranberry was the most popular.

Kathleen Bratton, 14, a freshman, said her favorite part of the holiday was being with all the friends with whom she had grown up.

For Rose, as it is for her students, the holiday highlight is seeing her students accomplish what many adults take for granted.

“That’s what I live for, to see their pride in what they’ve created,” she said. “Many children, especially boys, haven’t cooked before, but no matter what level the student is on, they can produce something that’s theirs and that they’ve made.”