The South County Alternative School (SCAS) staff is proud to report that collectively (morning and afternoon sessions); SCAS students and staff served a total of 1,421 hours in the local community.
Over the 2009-2010 School Year, SCAS students provided support and services for Opportunity Enterprises, Mental Health America of Porter County, Golden Living Center/Fountainview Place Nursing Home, Lake County Animal Shelter, Pines Village Retirement Community, St. Agnes Adult Day Center, Taltree Arboretum and Garden and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore – which is a new service site this year. “Serving together, they made a significant positive impact in our community. They deserve a standing ‘O’ for their efforts!” said Todd Buskirk, therapist for the SCAS. Spending most of their time at Opportunity Enterprises (OE), SCAS students and staff provided support for The Shamrock Shuffle and The Chicago Marathon by assembling informational packets for runners and participated in numerous light assembly.
Through a partnership with South County Alternative Schools, Porter-Starke Services provides alternative school services to students attending Boone Grove, Hebron, Kouts, Morgan Township, Washington Township and Wheeler High Schools. Students of the alternative school receive two hours of educational instruction provided by a licensed teacher, and include the use of computerized educational software and one hour of therapeutic social skill development facilitated by a Master’s level therapist. Porter-Starke Services is a not-for-profit community mental health center with offices in Valparaiso, Portage and Knox. It celebrates its 35th anniversary of providing high quality behavioral health and substance abuse treatment in 2010. For more information visit www.porterstarke.org or call (219) 531-3500.