Life Lessons At The Transition Program

Hello there! My name is Mackenzie Hietala and this is my third year at the transition program. When I first came to this program I didn’t have a job and I felt really insecure about it until Michael Albers, one of the teachers at the transition program helped me get my current job that I’m working at.

You may be asking yourself “Mackenzie if you still have a job? Why are you still here? I thought this program is just supposed to help you get a job?” This is where I am going to explain how this program can be beneficial to me by telling you what my classes are and what I learned so far.

The first class I have in the day is Personal Finance. So far this year I have learned about how a checkbook works and how to handle one. I now know what car to buy that would be beneficial to me. I also know now how mortgages work and how much money you should save for a house, if you are looking at buying one. Another important item I learned about was how to protect yourself from identity theft.

After that class the next class I have next is Replicated Reality, which I learned about how to behave in a workplace. As well as how to search for a job and how to maintain an employment portfolio. This quarter we have a new teacher for this class. So currently we are going over Driver’s ED for people who are looking to take their permit test or driver’s test.

The last class of the day for me is Independent Living, in this class we go over cooking such as being given a recipe to try to make at home, learning about certain types of food groups and their nutritional value. Also how to prepare larger meals for friends and our families.

This program has taught me so much about what it's like out in the real world. Honestly without this program I probably still wouldn’t have a job and have to navigate through life the hard way. ~Mackenzie