CREST Christmas

For more than 20 years, students at the Citrus Resource for Exceptional Student Transition (CREST) have taken part in a holiday party complete with Santa and Mrs. Claus, holiday decorations and presents.
 

Matthew Beck

Cody Gordon is all smiles as he sits on Santa’s lap during the CREST School’s annual holiday party.

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Matthew Beck

Matthew Johnson receives a stuffed animal as well as some other gifts that were selected by his teacher.

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Matthew Beck

Robert Herr plays with a stuffed animal as the party comes to an end.

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Matthew Beck

Hand-made ornaments created by the students were placed on the walls of the school’s gymnasium, making a festive atmosphere for the party.

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Assistant Principal Anita Moon and her husband Brad donned their traditional red outfits last week and presented gifts to each student at the school.
Callie Haynes, curriculum teacher on special assignment, said the party is a treat for the students.
 

“They look forward to this every year,” she said. “We always try to plan as much fun stuff for our students prior to the winter break as possible.”
 

The school has two different populations of students who fall into one of two groups; intellectually disabled and those with emotional behavior disorders. Students at the school range in age from preschool age through age 22.
 

“We try to facilitate whatever type of integration into the community we can for our students,” Haynes said. “With our intellectually disabled students our main focus is to give them as many independent skills as possible so when they leave us they may be able to live independently.
 

“With our emotional-behavior students our main goal is to transition them back into their regular school,” Haynes said.  “We want to get their behaviors under control and get them back so that they can get a regular diploma from whatever mainstream school they came from.”