Dramatizing stories for young children may not seem like a typical assignment for a high school student, but for students at SINAI Shalem High Schools this is just one example of learning through working in the community.
Rue Taubes, director of Gan Rina, a preschool in Teaneck, partners with SINAI to offer vocational training opportunities to students there who have developmental and learning disabilities. “One of the students who came to work with us liked acting, she liked being dramatic and performing, and she was also working on improving her reading,” said Taubes. The student would bring books home from the gan and prepare dramatic readings for the children. “She was really working with the kids,” Taubes noted, “not just doing busy work.”
With some 60 vocational partners in the community, SINAI students at Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls, Torah Academy of Bergen County, and Heichal HaTorah learn valuable on-the-job skills in a variety of work settings as they approach adulthood. SINAI’s vocational partners, which include businesses, nonprofits and schools, also gain from their participation.
“The students who come to us from SINAI at Ma’ayanot have skills,” said Gan Rina’s Taubes. “We benefit from them being part of our team, we’re not ‘just’ doing chesed.”
Taubes, who has a brother with special needs that had attended SINAI, is focused on making the experience rewarding for the SINAI students. The students do activities such as classroom set up, playing educational board games with the kids, helping run movement activities, and celebrating the students’ birthdays with them. These activities facilitate the development of communications, organization, troubleshooting, and other practical skills. “Those things are also part of being a coworker,” Taubes said.
“We are blessed to be able to lean into the community and have the community partner with us,” said SINAI at Ma’ayanot Director Ilana Picker. “Our goal is to match each student to a work-study place to help them learn skills, grow, and become independent.
“We genuinely appreciate and thank the businesses who have embraced us and opened their hearts to us — it takes patience, skill, and a belief that everyone counts.”
Niaz Ali, owner of the Teaneck Flower Shop, had one SINAI student work for him this past year. Calling the student “amazing, a very quick learner,” he said that her responsibilities included making floral arrangements, cleaning up flowers and answering the phone.
“We try to match students with jobs that align with their interests,” Picker said. “This student was particularly interested in flower arranging, so we were so happy when Niaz agreed to become a vocational partner.”
Ali also praises the SINAI staff, who provide a job coach working with the students. “They made everything so smooth and it is pleasant to work together.”
Students at SINAI “represent a wide range of abilities, interests, skills, and needs,” said Rachel Peyser, SINAI at TABC’s director of student life. “We are grateful to our vocational partners in the community, as the diverse offerings from the businesses that we are privileged to partner with enable us to match each student with a vocational placement that is most suited for his growth.”
Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Northern New Jersey has provided employment opportunities for many years for SINAI students, with jobs that have included working in its Food Pantry, where they sort and bag food, and packing and going on deliveries for the Kosher Meals on Wheels program – all while forming relationships with the clients. “We love partnering with SINAI,” said Michele Wellikoff, JFCS’s chief development officer.
With JFCS’s marketing director, Michael Danzig, the students helped work on social media posts, used Canva — a graphic design tool, and wrote short content pieces, using the internet to mine ideas for research.
The students also learn to accept constructive, professional feedback. “That’s the main skill I think that they are learning,” Wellikoff said. She also believes her own staff benefits from working in such an inclusive environment, learning that “we all come with different abilities.”
At Fox Marketing, a full-service creative company in Teaneck, owner Steve Fox has had seven students from SINAI do their vocational training to date. There, they are building solid professional skills, ranging from video production and photo editing to collecting data for spreadsheets and putting together direct mail or email pieces. “We’ve actually had one student who had video skills and came back on his own to volunteer as an intern after his SINAI stint was over,” Fox said. “It’s a win-win.”
“Watching their growth is so rewarding,” said JFCS’ Wellikoff. “Why wouldn’t we want to be part of that?”
To learn more about SINAI’s vocational preparedness program or view our list of vocational partners, click here.