SPECIAL SCHOOL FOR YOUTHS WITH DISABILITIES OPENS NEW LOCATION
Organization also looking to establish new campuses in north and south of the city
Calgary Quest Children's
Society was created in 1980 as a non-profit organization by a group of parents of students with challenges. They wrote a philosophy for a new school that in 1995 was accredited by Alberta Education as a designated special education school that has been coaching its students in a leased Calgary Board of Education building in Spruce Cliff.
The space serves the school well, but with its tenancy set to end, the Quest board had to come up with some innovative thinking. The result was that the society purchased its own building on 10th Avenue S.W. in Sunalta, where a new Quest school accepted its first students in January.
It is an ideal location for the society to carry on its mission to create a multidisciplinary community working together to provide a supportive learning environment for cross-disability students and their families, delivering the best outcomes in their social, emotional and educational journey.
Leading the management of the organization is executive director Susan Cress, an experienced strategic planner and facilitator who, before joining Quest three years ago, served as executive director of the Calgary Minor Soccer Association for five years.
Cress says she is addicted to the non-profit world — she was also executive director of HIV Community Link — and enjoys the business side of helping with systems processing, fundraising and making communities happen.
She says the Sunalta location is perfect for the school. In its search for a new building, it was deemed important for it to be in an established area where students could participate in surrounding life experiences.
The school is using the 20,000 square feet on the second floor of the building it purchased, and rents out the main level to the National Spine and Wellness Clinic, and TCR Sport Lab.
Currently, kindergarten to Grade 8 students are still being schooled at the Spruce Cliff campus, while the new Sunalta space is being used by high school students and a young adult program.
The focus has always been on ability within disability.
The team of teachers, instructional assistants and support staff create a caring and safe environment that respects each student's ability and supports them in reaching their potential.
The curriculum includes functional academics, life skills — a kitchen where students can learn to cook safely — and social skill development, volunteering and employment readiness.
An expansion of services was recently introduced called The Calgary Quest Resources Centre for Opportunity. The community access program will provide participants ages 18 to 25, who have been diagnosed with moderate to severe development disabilities, the chance to maximize their potential by providing a holistic approach to the development of life skills. Enhancement of self-reliance at home and in the community will support longterm community integration and inspire a dedication to volunteerism.
Transitioning from high school, children are offered a journey through being a volunteer — a place to go, such as the Calgary Food Bank — learning life skills such as taking the bus or LRT and grocery shopping, plus employment readiness.
Cress says partnerships, such as the one with the Calgary
Co-op where students learn to pack groceries while interacting with customers, are extremely important.
The demand for the services provided by Quest is growing. The expansion into Sunalta is helping feed the need but Cress says the society is already looking to establish new campuses in the north and south of the city.
Student fees and per-student amounts from the provincial government help provide for her 100 staff, but expansion will need a good deal of fundraising. The cost of renovations to the Sunalta campus interior was met with the help of grateful concessions by contractor CANA Construction, but the school is always looking to purchase new equipment to better improve schooling techniques. The immediate fundraising is to pay down the debt of $1.5 million; then Cress is challenged in funding essential new schools.
Currently, Quest has 180 students, but the wait list of children anxious to be included in their life-changing programs sits at 220.
NOTES:
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