Community colleges have long excelled in workforce preparation, a cornerstone of their educational mission. Since equipping students with job-ready skills is a well-established strength, community colleges are uniquely situated to broach the next frontier in educational equity: creating intentional, innovative workplace preparation opportunities tailored to the unique needs of neurodiverse students — a population often underserved and overlooked.
Addressing the distinct challenges and leveraging the unique strengths of neurodiverse learners, the pioneering and groundbreaking lifePATH program at Lone Star College (LSC) exemplifies the innovative, unconventional approach that community colleges can adopt to truly serve all segments of their student population. Beyond conventional approaches, intentionally addressing the distinct learning styles and career aspirations of neurodiverse learners, lifePATH provides neurodiverse students with equitable opportunities for academic, social and career growth.
The lifePATH program stands as a robust and intentional workforce pathway, earning approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. This comprehensive four-year program, culminating in a 60-credit hour Occupational Life Skills Associate (OLSA) degree, is carefully designed to foster holistic student development. It focuses on enhancing four key areas: academic ability, career readiness, interpersonal skills and intrapersonal growth.
Three key goals
lifePATH is driven by three primary objectives: (1) developing independence, (2) cultivating self-determination, and (3) honing essential skills to meet the demands of the professional world. These objectives shape every aspect of the program, ensuring that students are well-prepared for the challenges and opportunities that await them in their future careers.
The lifePATH OLSA degree is fully accredited by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. Courses are taught by credentialled faculty using Universal Design for Learning. While lifePATH maintains selective admission criteria to ensure student success in the program, students are fully integrated into the Lone Star College ecosystem.
Admitted students join as part of a cohort, and they take lifePATH classes together; however, integration into the campus community is a critical component and students enjoy equal rights and responsibilities as their peers in other programs. For example, lifePATH students have the same access to student clubs and organizations, campus activities, student services and graduation ceremonies. As such, lifePATH students experience a supportive campus culture where they have the freedom to engage with others, develop a sense of belonging and accomplish their goals.
Students in lifePATH are guided through a systematic process of self-discovery that includes career assessments and personal interest inventories that help identify career interests. Students research career clusters and delineate their interests to job families. Within these job families, students research specific careers and narrow the goals to those that match their values, priorities, transferable skills and educational requirements. lifePATH faculty and staff then provide support and guidance that help students begin their trajectory toward their career goals.
A four-year plan
Utilizing a supportive cohort model, the lifePATH OLSA program equips students with valuable transferable skills that are applicable to any career path. Years 1 and 2 are designed so students establish a solid foundation in college-level academics, workforce readiness, interpersonal communication and self-awareness. These core courses during the first half of the program prepare students for success in higher education and the professional world.
Years 3 and 4 are designed with some flexibility. Some students, with lifePATH ongoing support, choose to pursue additional certificates or degrees at Lone Star College, while they continue their lifePATH courses. Other students continue to pursue the OLSA degree and focus on refining their professional skills. These students graduate with both the OLSA degree and a business operations certificate.
One of the distinguishing features of the four-year program is its customized workplace-based internship experience for lifePATH OLSA students. Unlike traditional programs where students are assigned to pre-existing internship slots, lifePATH customizes the internship location for each student. As such, the internship provides a platform for students to apply social interaction skills crucial for workplace success and implement the knowledge gained from the program’s curriculum in real-world scenarios.
Community involvment
The success of the lifePATH program relies heavily on community and employer engagement. Currently, more than 50 community internship partners support the lifePATH program, representing a diverse range of employment sectors, including local government agencies, museums and arts organizations, large corporations, small businesses, churches and social services organizations, and major hospital systems. This broad spectrum of partners ensures that students have access to varied and enriching work experiences aligned with their individual paths.
Before entering the workplace-based internship, lifePATH students participate in Campus RAMP (Readiness Assessment Mentoring Program). Starting in Year 2 and continuing in Year 3, RAMP focuses on mentoring and job shadowing activities in various departments across the entire campus. Employees volunteer to serve as mentors, and lifePATH students become even more integrated into the overall campus environment.
An alternative two-year program
In addition to the four-year degree, lifePATH Foundations is an alternative two-year non-credit program offering specific foundational skills. The program is designed to equip students for entry-level employment in customer service or animal care. Students gain valuable academic strategies, develop strong social skills and explore career paths in these two areas. Upon completion, students receive a certificate of completion.
lifePATH Foundations students also are admitted into a cohort, but they have a reduced course load compared to OLSA. Foundations students also engage in campus job shadowing and a supported community internship.
Since its inception in 2016 at LSC-Tomball, 80 students have graduated with an OLSA degree. The program started at LSC-Tomball and expanded to LSC-Montgomery in 2019. Their first cohort of 8 students graduated in May. This fall, 97 lifePATH students are enrolled at the Tomball campus and 72 are enrolled at the Montgomery campus.
More information is available by visiting Lonestar.edu/lifePATH.htm.
