Sussex County Community College’s LACE Program holds student dance party

Sussex County Community College’s LACE Program – Learning At College Experience – finished up its 14th year in May with a celebratory dance party and recognition dinner at the Stillwater Community Center. The program is for adults with special needs. There was a total of 47 students, with 11 attending virtually due to COVID precautions.

LACE’s purpose is to keep developmentally disabled adults in an educational setting. In addition to academics, life skills and social skills are a priority. Different topics/subject areas are explored each semester with some overlapping into the next semester. Participation certificates are awarded at the end of each semester. This is the only such program offered in the State of N.J.

The age range of the students has been from 18 through 65+. Most of the students have aged out of high school. They may be working at a job site, volunteering at various places, or not involved in anything outside the home.

The topics covered this semester included:

Current Events, Welcome to Broadway!, The Rain Cycle, The Ocean, Computer Fun by making word clouds and calculating dinner orders using online menus, Math Detectives, Gardening, Wild Weather, and Birds. The students also enjoyed a class on bowling at Sparta Lanes, which was the first time in over two years that the group could organize such an event.

For more information on this program, visit sussex.edu.