DENHAM SPRINGS — Students in the Denham Springs High School Special Needs Department need your unwanted beads and parade throws after they have scraped the barrel on the last of their beads. The students use the beads and throws in learning a variety of skills, including business and math skills.
Victoria Vice, a paraprofessional educator at Denham Springs High School, said their classes use the donated beads to learn “life skills,” which includes things like customer service, counting beads and money, sorting, and making money deposits, among other things. The students take donated beads, clean, count and sort them, and then take orders from customers who want them.
Whenever they get a customer order for beads, the students fill out the order slips, go to the bead storage room to fill the order, deliver the beads to the customer’s vehicle and give the customer their invoice, Vice explained.
Once the customer hands them the money, the students count it out and occasionally use a calculator for more difficult transactions. She added that sometimes the customers will give students tips for their service.
“They love to be in the bead room. They get to sort and count the beads,” she said. “It’s getting them to be more social. They’re getting to meet more of our student body of regular ed. It’s just a great bonding experience, not just for them, but for the school as a whole.”
The bead collection and reselling program started at the school three years ago and has grown since.
“We usually have extra, but after the Christmas parade, we were completely sold out, which is a good thing, but it’s also a bad thing because we’re in our busiest season now,” Vice said.
She added that while they were in the Christmas parade to get more beads thrown back and collected, it wasn’t enough to fulfill the orders that are now coming into the department.
Donations are accepted at the Denham Springs High School front office, at the Texas Roadhouse in Juban Crossing, or at Sport-N-Center in Denham Springs. Beads and throws can be dropped off at any point in the year.
The money the department collects from its bead sales is used in a variety of ways, such as field trips, parties and buying items needed for the classroom.
The department also helps collect items for prom and homecoming dance attire for students at the school.
Download the Unfiltered with Kiran app from the Apple App Store and Google Play to stay updated on the latest news across the Capital area.
Help support UWK and their mission to continue providing you “The News You Deserve. Unfiltered.” Sign up to become a monthly patron via Patreon.
