I am 16 years old and have lived in my town for six years. I am a sophomore at my school in Penobscot County. I am in Special Education because I don’t have a good memory. My teacher got me on the Transition Council. We are currently working on a job fair. A girl who is on the council and I had all the students in our school fill out a survey. We asked them to name three jobs that they would like to see at the fair. I put on the survey that I either wanted to be a police officer or a teacher.

In September I had a transition meeting with my area transition coordinator, my mom, my teacher, and two students from other schools. I learned about S.N.O.W. Charts (Strengths, Needs, Opportunities and Worries). During that meeting, I decided I would be a good teacher because I am good with kids. The opportunities when I get to work with kids are at church, on the bus, and at summer programs. This year I plan to go to the primary school and help a teacher.

In September, I went to the Student Leadership Training at the Y-camp in Winthrop. We did team building, learned about leading other students, and hung out all weekend. A month later, I went with three other student leaders to Bethel to the Special Education Directors Academy. We talked to teachers and directors about transition planning. We told them that transition planning needs to start at a younger age, like middle school. Also, there needs to be a team working with the student during the meeting. This team should include a director, a teacher, a parent, and an agency person.

I went to the Hall of Flags at the State House to talk to legislators about transition. We met Governor King and I gave him a packet of information about transition.