WEST HAVEN — Each day at West Haven High School, Devon Nichols and his class start the day by baking a sheet of brownies and taking coffee orders.

"It's cool, to be honest," said Nichols, a senior.

Yet the highlight of the week is Fridays, when Nichols has an opportunity to give a weekend weather report on the school news broadcast.

This week, Nichols and his classmates will tour the WTNH News8 studios in downtown New Haven; he confided that it's his wish that he might get pulled into providing a weather update on a professional news channel.

Nichols is one of roughly 20 students enrolled in internship and life skills teacher Carissa Anastasio's life skills class. Special education students in Connecticut have a right to attend high school until they turn 22; Anastasio said a challenge facing school districts is making the educational offerings appealing to students who have already received their diploma so that they can remain engaged.

"We do things they want to do and I find things they haven't done before," she said.

The most practical application for doing so is to give students applicable skills for success after graduation, such as learning how to take orders, make deliveries, follow directions and make change.

In addition to baking brownies — something Anastasio said the class does all day because of how quickly they sell among the school's students — students also stock and operate the school's food pantry with some of the proceeds from their brownie and coffee sales as well as wash, sort and fold donated clothes for the school's clothing closet in its pantry with the use of a washer and dryer in Anastasio's classroom.

To stock the pantry, students maintain a grocery list and shop for the materials.

"I'm so happy in this class. I feel glad to be here with Ms. A and Ms. D (paraprofessional Dianna D'Angelico)," said senior Anthony Monge.

The class also chooses places they'd like to go for monthly field trips; coming up is a trip to a minor league hockey game as well as the studio tour of WTNH. Earlier, students went to a pumpkin patch and at some point later this year students plan on going to the Mystic Seaport Aquarium.

Anastasio said the group also has worked on regulating behavior.

"At work, you can't fight, yell and scream," she said, so instead they have practiced requesting a five-minute break to calm down. Those field trips are an opportunity to put their behavioral skills into action.

Eudel Vazquez, a senior-plus, said the class has learned not to use technology, such as music players and headphones, except during break times. Anastasio said the students' diligence helped them alert staff about a student theft while selling brownies.

"It feels good to help: helping outside in the community and getting ready for a real job," Vazquez said.

William Lopes, a senior, said the class has helped him to become a captain in his Unified Sports league. It is his duty to communicate important information about league activities to students.

Principal Dana Paredes said Anastasio had found an effective way of adapting the school's internship and life skills academic programming to modern constraints — namely that the pandemic has led to local employers having less capacity or willingness to accept student interns or volunteers.

"They're gaining skills they're going to need, and it's especially important for students who do have some learning challenges that they're learning skills to live and work on their own," she said. "The way she's formatted the program allows her a lot of flexibility in terms of job placement and their schedules. It allows us to meet every kid where they are."

Paredes said the program is an excellent example of the school's rubric, which aims to leave students with problem solving and communication skills as well as an understanding of civic duty and the ability to explore their passions.

In the future, Anastasio said she hopes to work on filling out actual job applications with students so they have the experience and could potentially gain regular employment.