TIES, or Together Including Every Student, promotes the participation of children/young adults with developmental disabilities in extracurricular and community activities by providing effective support. This support is provided by trained student volunteers.
Pioneer School District will be participating in a TIES program based at Pioneer High School. The program helps students participate in extracurricular and community-based activities by providing effective, positive, student-specific support.
Pioneer is one of over 30 Western New York schools taking part in TIES, which is a program of The Advocacy Center in Rochester
Originally founded by two parents, TIES has grown to approximately 420 participants regionally and over 950 volunteers. TIES provides students with disabilities the opportunity to fully engage in activities that they would have otherwise refrained from joining or done so only with the direct supervision of an adult.
Trained student volunteers from the high school serve as peer mentors to students with developmental disabilities so they can successfully participate in an after-school club, a town recreational program, or a community activity. While volunteers may accrue hours to satisfy the community service requirement for specific courses, most report that the experience has provided far more.
TIES coordinators at Pioneer include high school teachers Julie Smith and Jessica Lussier.