Gathering up unused clothes hangers from the aisles in the St. Vincent DePaul Thrift Store in Kenmore, Bo Daane, 19, proudly wears a Washington State University T-shirt.

When someone jokingly asks him if his favorite sports team is the University of Washington Huskies, Daane gives the questioner an odd look, lets out an abbreviated laugh and points to his shirt with a big smile. Somewhat shy regarding other questions asked of him, Daane isn’t bashful at all about his allegiance to the Cougars.

Besides wrangling empty hangars, Daane also helps clean and straighten some of the shelves in the store. He is always accompanied by a job coach or, on this day, by behavioral specialist Kelsey McDonald, who mostly helps Daane communicate. He does so using sign language and some verbalization.

“He greets most everybody with a big, ‘Hey, you,’” McDonald said.

“He’s the most pleasant kid you ever wanted to meet in your life,” said St. Vincent’s store manager Bob Catone, though Catone later adds he’s never had a store intern from the Northshore School District’s Adult Transition Program (ATP) who wasn’t pleasant.

“The basis for this program is to make these young adults as self-sufficient as possible,” said Danielle Legault, a special-education teacher with ATP.

Three years ago, the district launched the transition program to serve developmentally challenged students who might need more attention than others. A former administrator who wanted to get back in the classroom when ATP was put together, teacher Edward Koehl said most of the program’s 18 students, ages 19-21, need one-on-one attention. They have a wide variety of challenges including Down’s syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy and numerous physical impairments. Three students are currently in wheelchairs.

Legault said ATP students share their time between school and six-week internships at local businesses such as St. Vincent’s, Jump Planet, Kenmore Lanes and the Aegis retirement home. Students work at the locations for a couple of hours a day, two days a week. In the course of a school year, they will complete internships at three different locations. Daane indicated his favorite assignment so far has been Denny’s restaurant.

When they are not at their internship sites, ATP students still might not be sitting in their Bothell classrooms. Legault and others said students and teachers regularly make trips to coffee shops or other retail outlets, the local library and other locations. The idea is to give students real-life experiences with handling money, reading menus, paying attention to traffic and road signs or riding the bus.

When they are in class, Legault said they spend time learning to tell time or working in the program’s mock food bank, learning how to stock shelves or taking on other simple office tasks. The still-new, three-year program has had five graduates, two of whom are working. In the other instances, Legault said the students’ families decided to move in a different direction.

“This is what I think special education is all about,” Koehl said, “getting kids prepared for what life is like after high school.” Teacher Mike Lewis said getting students as job-ready as possible is key.

“I hope this is helping them, I think it is,” Catone said regarding the interns who have worked in his store. “I know that it helps with their socialization.”

Catone thinks the internships have some possibly more subtle effects, as well, giving students a sense of purpose and responsibility.

“They are treated like the young adults they are,” said Legault, who added she has a sister with developmental disabilities and that is largely what led her into the field.

“She’s been a big part of my life, I absolutely love her,” Legault said.

“Our kids have personalities,” added Lewis, who hopes ATP helps knock down some of the stereotypes of persons with disabilities. That’s an idea Koehl likes, as well. Of the three ATP teachers, Koehl has the most experience and he said he’s seen some definite changes in the way challenged people are treated by others. He’s also seen changes in what is expected of challenged students.

“They are held to performance outcomes,” Koehl said. “The bar has been raised significantly higher and that’s a good thing.”

Koehl added many ATP and special-education students in general have healthy, positive outlooks on life despite all that has been put in their way. He admits that has made him somewhat impatient with persons who tend not to appreciate what they have.

“You’ve so much that God has given you,” he said, “quit complaining, go use it all and enjoy it all.”