By Ian Miller
Jae Tillman has a superpower.
Jae, instructor with the 18-21 transition program Prepare House, visited The Golden Scoop on Wednesday, August 20th, with her class in tow. She and her class were there to see what employment might look like after graduating from the transition program.
Prepare House, a KCK-based work-transition program for high school students with special needs ages 18-21 years old, was founded over 20 years ago and has served thousands of students with special needs since then. Jae has been with the program for four years, and she loves every minute of it.
“I am the special education teacher for the 18 to 21 transition program with the Kansas City Kansas School District,” said Jae. “So, with the 18 and 21 program, we are set up to help students volunteer at different places to learn some meaningful job skills, and just kind of real life, real-world skills. So we really don’t do a lot of academics [in our program]. We kind of focus on just job skills and real-world skills.”
So, what is Jae’s superpower? I’ll let her explain.
“I just— I feel like a superhero, because I love building relationships with my students,” said Jae.” I love them being able to experience and be exposed to new things that they may not commonly [have an] opportunity to experience. And I love being that consistent person in their life that doesn’t change. They will see me every day. So, it’s really, really rewarding. It’s kind of like a superpower.”
Prepare House students also get to make craft projects, which the program then sells in a craft sale to raise funds for the year’s activities. Jae said the joy her students experience by making the crafts and then selling them to the public is a “reward in itself.”
“[We] have a sale that they do twice a year,” said Jae. “They make all the crafts . . . [and] the money goes back into the program. It is their money. So that’s how we’re able to do all the different experiences that we do . . . We have a lot of support from the district [and] the community. Everybody comes because each and every item is specifically made by each student.”
I asked her about how she helps her students achieve their goals, and she said, “[You have to] elevate that comfort zone and not allow them to settle. Because, sometimes, you just, kind of, want to only do what you think you can do . . . Let’s push for more than just settling for what we think we can do . . . So, that’s my goal, [which] is to just continue to level them up, to level the program up, to maximize [their] opportunity and, you know, have a success, have them become a successful as possible.”
Simply put, Jae’s “superpower” is the ability to help her students reach their highest potential. Being a superhero isn’t just about putting on some fancy, colored tights and a cape; it’s really about using your gifts to help others unlock theirs.
Find the Golden Scoop at these locations:
9540 Nall Avenue
Overland Park, Kansas 66207
913-284-804410460 W 103rd Street
Overland Park, Kansas 66214
913-232-9639Hours:
Monday – Closed
Tuesday-Saturday: 8am-7pm
Sunday @103rd: 9am-5pm
Sunday @ 95th: 1pm-5pm
