Finding Purpose in the Heart of St. Augustine

“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

As human beings, you and me, we are constantly searching for things that peak our interest in this life. Something to give meaning to this, sometimes chaotic, world that we live in. Our paths typically look the same, we gain a foundation of education, find a job, integrate our lives with other people: and somewhere along the way we are able to connect a unique purpose to it all. Just on the edge of the heart of St. Augustine lies the campus of First Coast Technical College. Within this campus, there is a small subdivision dedicated to The Life Work program. This program is made up of 5, highly motivated and passionate, job coaches and 2, empathetic and devoted, teachers. All 7 of them find their purpose in helping their 25 unique students with a range of different intellectual disabilities find purpose. So, what is an intellectual disability? It is generally described as significant limitations in both intellectual functioning as well as adaptive functioning. Intellectual functions are reasoning, learning and problem solving skills; whereas adaptive functions correlate with social and practical skills.

The Life Work program sprouted up in St. Augustine about 5 years ago. Before this, students in St. Johns County with an intellectual disability were typically left to their own devices. In high school, the students were given an Individualized Education Program. (IEP) An IEP is a written document that a teacher creates in order to assess each student individually to find the specific intellectual and or adaptive functions that they need extra assistance with. The teacher is then able to formulate a curriculum for the student to achieve higher success in those areas. The students were subject to remain in their high school until the age of 22. However, despite their IEP, their opportunities to learn and expand were minimal, once they reached the age of 18.

After the students reached 18, they would typically end up taking the same classes over and over or double up on electives. It was common to see that when the students would reach the age of 22, and were no longer able to attend high school, they would not have the necessary skill set to live a life on their own nor even know where to start. This would result in the students either being dependent on social security or their families without a clear path forward.

With the formation of St. Augustine’s Life Work Program, there have come boundless opportunities for St Johns County’s students with intellectual disabilities to gain the necessary skills to excel into an independent life of their own. Overall, The Life Work program functions as a kind of dual enrollment. The students are able to differ their diploma and attend First Coast Technical College (FCTC). Here, the students have the ability to excel into upper level courses unlike their high school setting. FCTC even offers a wide range of tracks to the students that they can eventually become certified in such as culinary arts, cosmetology & welding.

Behind the doors of the Life Work Program at FCTC, students are individually assessed at the beginning of the semester. This assessment mimics the idea of their IEP in high school, but there is one major difference. This being that the students are given not only a teacher to directly work with but also an employment specialist or “job coach.” Now, what is a job coach? Simply put, a job coach is an individual who is employed to help people with disabilities learn, accommodate and perform work duties.

Typically a job coach will work with individuals one on one or in a small group. At St. Augustine’s Life Work Program it’s common to see one job coach with a group of 4-5 students. Before the job coaches are assigned to their students they are tasked to complete “community exploration” within their county limits. Community exploration is a unique task where the job coaches are able to find places that the students can work in real time. This ultimately allows the students to dive-in, head first, in order to practice and grow their intellectual and adaptive functioning outside of the comfort of the classroom.

A normal day for a student at the Life Work Program is much different than one they would experience at their high school. The day is split in half. At the start of the day the students work at their assigned job site and at the end of the day they learn in the classroom.

Beginning at 9 am, the students arrive at First Coach Technical College dressed in their uniform of a black polo and khaki pants. The job coaches then perform a “groom check.” This entails a quick hygiene check to make sure that each student is professionally ready to enter their workplace. The job coach will also do an individual mental check-in to gauge if each student is ready to face the challenges that may come their way that day.

After the groom check, the students and job coaches begin traveling, by bus, to their job site. In St Augustine, some of the businesses that work hand-in-hand with the Life Work program are: Flagler Hospital, Bay View Assisted Living, The Conch House Marina Resort, Dog Rose Brewing Company & Publix. The students will typically remain at their job site for a few weeks or months and then they will switch to a new job site. This allows the students to not only explore the different career opportunities that are available to them but to discover which one, they feel, suits them best.

Each business offers a variety of positions that the students are able to challenge themselves in. At Bay View Assisted Living, students are tasked with housekeeping and laundry: they remove old linens and replace them with fresh. They do activities with the residents of the community. They also work in the kitchen washing dishes. At Flagler Hospital they work to replace linens on all of the different floors, and they serve food in the cafeteria.

The Conch House Marina Resort is a 17 unit motel, award winning restaurant, marina & Tiki Bar all in one built right on the beautiful blue waters of St. Augustine’s Intercoastal. The resort typically hosts a plethora of events ranging from a monthly full moon Luau, live entertainment, fishing tournaments and more. Here students are given a wide range of opportunities. They can work in the office completing reconciliations for the hotel bookings, filing papers, preparing mass mailing. They can be inside the restaurant working as a hostess or in the kitchen prepping food and washing dishes. They also have the opportunity to work with housekeeping in the motel or they can be outside as a groundskeeper.

Although some of the job positions may seem the same, the students individually shadow an employee of each business. So, they are always meeting and interacting with different people. This interaction is an extremely pivotal portion of the Life Work Program. Brandi Gilbert, a job coach at First Coast Technical College, says: “For our students, shadowing an employee allows them to use the natural support system of the work environment to be able to learn the job and be successful. Our ultimate goal as a job coach is to be able to fade out and watch as the student becomes independent.”

All in all, The Life Work program isn’t just about an education or a job. Brandi Gilbert has experienced a feeling of accomplishment that transcends the menial tasks of learning and working. In the past 2 years she has watched as many of her students have bloomed into areas they didn’t know were possible to them. Brandi explained that one student in particular started at The Life Work Program at the age of 19. His job location assignment was at The Casa Monica Hotel in the kitchen and within 3 months the management team hired them on full-time. This student is now taking culinary classes with FCTC in hopes to become a chef with The Casa Monica. Brandi says, “The staff and management of our community are amazing. They have hired on many of our students after their time in Life Work. You can see that they deeply care about our students and want to see them succeed.”

The Life Work program is about building a support system across and throughout St. Augustine, forming & stabilizing a sense of self confidence, and along the journey stumbling across a purpose to life. Brandi says, “I feel blessed to have crossed paths with so many extraordinary individuals. Most of the time all it takes is the smallest push in the right direction & consistent support for these young adults to realize that they are capable of achieving greatness.” As of right now, The Life Work program is still in its beginning phases of establishment. The job coaches work tireless hours to develop more business partnerships within the community in hopes that each student that enters The Life Work Program is able to find their niche in St. Augustine