Road Scholar Transport is proud to announce a new addition to its awareness fleet, helping spread the word for The Scranton School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children (SSDHHC).
“The Scranton School’s mission is to prepare attending students who are deaf and hard-of-hearing for all aspects of life through high quality individualized education,” shares Kevin McDonough, Director of the SSDHHC. “The school now has 60 students from preschool through 12th grade. The Scranton School’s programs and services are offered to students on its campus in South Abington Twp. The 100 acre campus was purchased in 2010 for $2.4 million. It houses an 18 bedroom residence for residential students and a 68,000 square foot building for educational services. The Scranton School has been at its current location since 2012.”
McDonough continued, “Children with hearing loss benefit from early identification, use of technology and other assistive devices, captioning and sign language and other forms of educational and social support. The Scranton School plays an important role in addressing these early education needs and through its all-inclusive communication environment is able to support the communication needs of children with hearing loss. Our school offers an environment which is free from barriers to communication. We offer instruction in American Sign Language (ASL), Spoken English and Sign Supported English – depending on the student’s needs. The Scranton School provides Early Intervention services through its Choices for Children Program and provides instruction in a school-based setting for preschool (3 years old) through high school. Our small preschool class size allows for individualized, child-centered instruction in spacious, child friendly classrooms. Modular learning centers and theme-based materials promote learning through play and support the development of vocabulary and language. The Scranton School provides our students with the opportunity to experience hands-on instruction. Due to the nature of the hearing loss, our learning environment is structured around highly visual learning, which incorporates a wide variety of visual presentation technology to support teaching and learning.”
But how did the idea to create an awareness truck for SSDHHC come about? Mary Ann Stefko,
Choices for Children Early Intervention teacher and facilitator for some of the school’s outreach events, explains:
“I am familiar with Road Scholar’s awareness campaign from other organizations I am involved with which have benefited from these efforts. The idea for our truck began when Mr. Barrett (President of Road Scholar) attended our annual car show and shared the possibility of designing a truck for the school. Mr. Barrett, Bridget (Road Scholar’s awareness truck designer) and I met. I shared information about the school and the children and families that we serve. Bridget is amazing! From our discussion, she came up with the design.”
Stefko added, “It’s incredible to me that Road Scholar is so invested in the community and local efforts that they are willing to do this! It is definitely an example that there are good people willing to ‘go the extra mile’ for others!”
Road Scholar Transport and The Scranton School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children surprised students with a reveal of the truck earlier this month. Check out highlights from the event in the video below and visit our awareness campaign for all of the causes/organizations we are currently spreading awareness for.
