Palisades Regional Academy
Project H.O.P.E.
(Helping Ourselves, People and the Environment)
Hope is a powerful, positive word. It is a feeling that something great is likely to happen. It is the sense that success is possible. Teens with hope, goals and positive feedback do well towards gaining confidence and a desire to do more. Special education students can flourish when given the optimal academic environment that is enhanced by opportunities to do for others. They gain important social and life skills which serve them well for now and the future. It is great to have the focus shifted away from what can be done for you for just a bit and placed on what you do for others.
Palisades Regional Academy
Palisades Regional Academy (PRA) is a private state approved Special Education school located in Paramus, New Jersey since 1977. PRA serves students from Northern New Jersey, preparing them both educationally and behaviorally, for a successful transition from high school to work or higher education. The academy has given them the opportunity to learn in an environment that is more in tune with breaking the barriers that held them back in other educational settings.
PRA students receive all the necessary academic requirements to qualify for a high school diploma from their home districts. After graduation many PRA students attend college, vocational schools, enter the Armed Services or seek employment. The school's additional focus on volunteer experiences provides the opportunity for students to succeed in real community settings and put their learning into practice. "Our students really enjoy the chance to get out in the community, meet new people and know they have done something to help," says Paul Wagner, teacher and advisor.
PRA students have the opportunity to participate in Project H.O.P.E. during their school day. Students have the responsibility for contacting agencies, recruiting other students, fundraising, and the implementation of the Project. Students are selected based on academic and behavioral criteria as well as a desire to serve the community. Project H.O.P.E. has been in existence for the past twenty years and has assisted the following agencies throughout northern New Jersey:
* The Volunteer Center of Bergen County
* Liberty Science Center
* Bergen County Center for Food Action
* Liberty State Park
* Montclair Salvation Army
* Good Earth Garden Center
* Paramus Department of Social Service
* Bergen Regional Hospital
* New Jersey Community Development Corporation
* Paterson Community Charter School
* Flatbrook Nature Preserve
* Camp Glen Gray Boy Scout Camp
* Paramus Volunteer Ambulance Corp
* Paramus Jewish Community Center
* New Jersey Special Olympics
* PIP Printing, Paramus, NJ
