Monday mornings are jubilant at the Lake Washington School District’s Transition Academy.

There’s no yawning or whining as students pile into the academy’s headquarters on Cleveland Street in downtown Redmond — just excitement to dive into the day’s activities. It’s humbling and uplifting to behold.

As their former classmates tackle new adventures at colleges and universities, these developmentally disabled young adults remain under the watchful eyes of Transition Academy co-directors Richard Haines and Mark Tornquist and a passel of para-educators. It’s not their intention to restrict or coddle the students. Rather, it’s to foster personal management, employment and social skills that will help the students graduate at age 21 and be functional and comfortable in the community.

In a series that will run throughout this academic year, the Redmond Reporter will occasionally check in with Transition Academy students and share their stories.

On the morning of Sept. 21, like at countless other schools and offices, the water cooler chatter at the Transition Academy was all about the Huskies, the Cougars and their weekend football victories. The students knew the big games’ scores, the teams’ standings — and that Will Smith’s kid had played in the football game at Skyline High School.

As the small talk dwindled, Haines asked Jake Simmons, who works at the Redmond Fred Meyer store, how his latest job evaluation went. It went well, Simmons reported, eliciting a round of applause.

“What’s our goal by June 1st?,” Haines prompted. Seasoned students immediately responded, “To have jobs.”

Many of the academy’s students already do have jobs, and others are beginning to learn new skills that can make them employable.

Next, staff and students reviewed the day’s “pencil schedules” to determine where each student would be headed and what they’d be doing.

“We call them ‘pencil schedules’ because life happens — things change. We need to be flexible,” Tornquist noted. Changes can be rough for people with developmental disabilities. They crave structure and familiarity. But indeed, adapting to change is part of life in the job market and the community.

On Sept. 21, a few students were scheduled to hang out in the classroom with Haines, practicing skills such as typing and filing. Others went out in small teams to jobs or internships at the YWCA, Redmond Elementary School, the Lake Washington School District Resource Center and elsewhere on the Eastside, either walking or riding public transit.

We tagged along with para-educator Pauline Fuentes and students Jason Grager, Carly Hursh and Bryan Groscost, as they jaunted to REI at Redmond Town Center and signed in for a two-hour work shift.

Grager and Hursh are both 21 and expected to graduate from the Transition Academy this June. Groscost, 19, is a “newbie” in the program. But he wasn’t shy. With a beaming smile, he bounded ahead of the others, while Fuentes implored him to slow down and make sure cars would stop before the crosswalk.

“They’re supposed to yield, but they don’t always,” Fuentes reminded him.

Inside REI, the students knew just how to get to the office where they’d clock in and grab the supplies they needed for their jobs.

Groscost was assigned to cleaning mirrors. Hursh wiped down telephones and counter tops with antibacterial cleaner.

“Jason does six different tasks,” Fuentes marveled, as Grager meticulously dusted row after row of shoe shelves. “He’s very diligent, needs little supervision, has a great attitude,” she said. “He dusts, cleans and waxes railings and racks, moves baskets and carts around. I only showed him once. He picked it up just like that.”

Haines later told us that REI is just one of many wonderful community partners, providing a “work lab” environment to help Transition Academy students become valuable contributors to the community. As well, community members get to see developmentally disabled people in a different light.

“Through outreach, education, advocacy, we see a big change,” said Haines.

For more information about the LWSD Transition Academy, call (425) 861-3452 or visit www.lwsd.org/school/ta.