Students learn important skills by running a store. Photo by Jorge Rosemond.

By Jorge Rosemond

April is Autism Awareness Month, and while the signs of this event are everywhere, what is really known about autism? What can be done about it? And most importantly, what are we at PHS doing about it?

First, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a the proper name for this developmental disorder. It affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others.

According to the Autism Society, there is no single cause of autism but increased awareness and early diagnosis and intervention, with access to appropriate services and supports, will lead to a significantly improved outcomes.

Next, Autism Awareness Month is to try and provide a new perspective for the society at large, that encounters ASD individuals. The best thing is for society to accept and include individuals living with autism.

The PHS family includes all individuals, to come and learn and be accepted. The B.E.S.T. retail shop’s purpose is just for that. The store opened on April 1, to coincide with the beginning of Autism Awareness month.

Now the PHS family can not only celebrate autism awareness but truly appreciate the unique aspects and diversity of all people in our school.

The students of Mrs. Ackerson’s class selected the name for vocational and career readiness program. B.E.S.T. stands for Building Essential Skills Training.

As the program took shape these students collaborated and then selected this name as the name for the store.

Selecting the name is only the beginning because the purpose for the store is to have students build life and career skills. By running a store these students get the opportunity to manage money and develop customer service interpersonal skills.

Students also develop office working, cooking, food service, inventory, teamwork, and packaging and distributions skills. Basically, anything that has to do with entrepreneurship and running a store is done and learned by these amazing students.

This year they have also been busy producing some custom-made products, in art classes with Mrs. Ware-Morin. By selling the items that they themselves created, a new level of pride and ownership can be felt by these students.

By supporting this store and the fellow students who work there, we can get one step closer to a school and a society where those with ASDs are valued for their unique talents and gifts. Now that is diversity.