LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – Thirteen-year-old Damarion Walker works with teacher Brook Gibson on an iPad provided through WHAS Crusade for Children funding.
It’s one of the many pieces of equipment and programming used by Cloverport’s students with special needs.
The students in teacher Julie Monarch’s class will be using the latest piece of equipment funding by the Crusade. Her class was transported to the bank via van for a life-skills field trip.
“Oh, it’s tremendous. It allows us to get our students out into the community and allows us to really focus on different skills that a lot of individuals take for granted,” she said.
On this outing the students are getting a hands-on experience at Cloverport’s Hancock Bank.
“When you come in the door you’ll come up and you’ll see one of us if you’re going to make a deposit or cash a check or make a loan payment,” banking officer Aggie Weatherholt said.
Ms. Monarch’s class gets a behind-the-scenes tour of banking. They learn how a drive through works. They identify coins and they have fun exploring the bank’s vault.
“They’ve started doing life skill classes and taking them places on the van,” Damarion’s mom Kris Seibert said. “He has a tendency to depend on me whenever we do things together. So whenever he is able to do these with the school he learns more independence.”
“The funding from WHAS11 Crusade for Children we couldn’t survive without it,” Sarah Greathouse, Cloverport Director of Special Education said. “We want the best for our kids and with the WHAS grant we’re able to do even better than the best.”
On this field trip, the best for Damarion is handling his first one hundred dollar bill.
Through the Life Skills course Damarion’s next goal is to open a coffee shop at the school.
He's particularly excited to bake cookies for his teachers and fellow students.
