Recent Aspen School District graduates with disabilities explore job opportunities in new partnership with Skico 

Jakaline Keller has skied in Aspen since she was a kid, and her dream is to one day become a ski patroller for Aspen Skiing Company.

She hopes Skico’s new partnership with the Aspen School District to employ recent graduates with disabilities will help her get to that point. But until then, she will join Skico’s food and beverage program this season alongside her twin sister Janette Keller and Jason Dobbins through the school district’s PeAk Futures program.

“I want to stick with Skico,” Jakaline said. “I want to work as a ski patroller, or if I can’t do that, a ski instructor.”

The PeAk Futures program is a transitional program for 18-21-year-olds who completed their high school requirements on an individual education plan (IEP). Its goal is to help transition students with disabilities from high school life to adulthood.

“That transition program is to support students to access their independence with an extra layer of support,” said Transition Student Services Coordinator Tara Valentino. “And it’s really based on their goals. Jason’s goals are very different than Janette’s and very different from Jakaline’s, so we tailor their programming to what they are looking to do with their life.” 

Jakaline, Janette, and Dobbins went through the full interview process with Skico, said Mikala Ford, director of talent acquisition at Skico. They interviewed for guest-facing attendant positions and went through interviews with both Ford and on-mountain food and beverage hiring managers. One of the most important aspects of the PeAk Futures program is to help with resumes and job applications, Valentino said.

Jakaline and Dobbins will start at the Cliffhouse Restuarant at Buttermilk Ski and Buttermilk Mountain Lodge, respectively, in mid-December. Janette began working at Elk Camp Restaurant at Snowmass Village last week.

“My manager said to me before I left, ‘This is going to be a successful partnership,'” Janette said of her first day. “He asked me, ‘Do you want to come back tomorrow?’ And that makes me want to come back, it’s just like a family. If you have a meltdown or something goes wrong, they are there to help.”

Another important aspect of the PeAk Futures program is partnering with job coaches from the Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) to provide additional support. The job coaches will help teach self-advocacy in the workplace, like asking for a break or asking for help in a new task, Valentino said.

Valentino will help as a job coach alongside Kaleb Cook, who founded Cook Inclusive, a local nonprofit that provides supportive employment services to youth with disabilities. Cook Inclusive began working with the Aspen School District to provide pre-employment training to students. It also works with the Roaring Fork School District.

Cook partnered with Tara to launch the PeAk Futures program for the 2022-2023 school year. Cook also oversees a team of job coaches who ensure the recent graduates are competitively employed and working as independent as possible.

“One thing we have really noticed with this work is that employment is the catalyst for change in every respect of life,” Cook said. “Because whether your motivation is money or social connection or having a schedule or having things to do or getting out of your house, employment does all of those things and when we’re getting a student ready for employment, we’re addressing hygiene, we’re addressing independent living skills, cooking, anything you need to pack a lunch and make sure you show up on time.”

“We’re working on so many skills with the center being employment, and then once you get a kid competitively employed having all those skills, they’re set up for life,” he added.

Valentino said partnering with a company such as Skico that has such outsized influence in the valley will help recent graduates integrate even deeper into the community. 

Dobbins is excited for the opportunity to work with Skico, and he hopes working for the company will help him with other jobs or further schooling in the future.

“I’ve wanted to work for Skico since the beginning of (the PeAk Futures program),” Dobbins said.

Skico has hired from other groups that support individuals with disabilities like Challenge Aspen and has an on-mountain partnership with other organizations like Ascendigo. Ford hopes to expand the partnership between Skico and the school district in the years to come.

“We started small this year with three, but I know that there’s more individuals that would love to have an opportunity with us, and we want to continue to foster the relationship so we can really build an environment of inclusivity,” Ford said.