Photos by Christopher Shatzer/Public Opinion Mission accomplished: Franklin Learning Center student Jeremy Biser, 18, and his mother, Deneen McClung, make a toast Monday morning as they prepare to eat a breakfast of eggs and sausage made by Jeremy as part of the Life Skills Support Program at the Franklin Learning Center.

Deanna Marinelli is like most people in that she's not big on change. But with the help of her teacher, Diane Kennedy, she's adjusting and even beginning to enjoy it.

"Deanna, she doesn't accept change very well, but the change in this class has been very positive," said her mother, Kathy Marinelli.

The Life Skills Support class at the Franklin Learning Center, Chambersburg, prepares students for life on their own. They learn to go grocery shopping by themselves, to cook for themselves and to calculate the cost of things they'll need. There are 10 students in the class ranging in age from 16 to 21. Kennedy has had her group of students for two years.

"The objective is independence," Kennedy said. "Because these kids are all 16 to 21 and they'll be on their own one day."

On Monday, the group invited their mothers to class so they could cook them breakfast. They learn to cook in their home economics class, but in Kennedy's class they focus on using the microwave. Jeremy Biser, 18, leans over a desk to read the picture recipe for making sausage. After choosing a microwave-safe plate and placing a few links on a paper towel, Biser moves to the next table to prepare the eggs before the sausage.

"You have to cook the sausage first, Jeremy," Kennedy said. "Emily, why are we doing the sausage first?"

"Because it takes longer," said Emily Gracemeyers, 19.

"It takes longer, it has standing time," Kennedy said.

Last week, Kennedy took the boys to pick up the breakfast groceries from Weis Market on Wayne Avenue. Josh Packer, 18, moseyed around the store placing pecans, flour tortillas, eggs and sausage in his shopping cart. When he first started going to the store and shopping by himself, he says he was nervous.

"I was kind of scared I may mess up, like with the prices. I may go over the amount," he said. "Now, I'm learning to shop for myself so when I'm on my own I can take care of myself."

Kennedy and her aides sorted the store's inventory and color-coded the aisles on picture cards for the students. Each student has a pouch with numbered tabs representing each aisle. Filed under each tab is a picture of an item with its word. Packer, who will graduate this year, says he feels prepared to be on his own because he's learned so many things.

"I put groceries away, I keep my bedroom clean ... do my own laundry," he said. "They're basically teaching me how to do stuff on my own."

At breakfast, the students are wrapping up the end of a half-year unit on "buying, cooking and independence," Kennedy said.

The life skills program began to change at the school over the last couple of years from pushing a lot of traditional math and reading skills to more practical use in real life.

"Our math is no longer two plus two. They're just more skills that are gonna be useful for the kids," she said.

The students each have varying abilities, which can sometimes make the program a challenge because Kennedy may have to teach one who's deaf while another is autistic. But the change in the students has been noticeable.

"See, I know how to cook. Can I cook breakfast for you at my house?" Biser said to his mother, Deneen McClung. "I did good."

"You went to the store and bought all this stuff, right?" McClung asked.

Jeremy nodded. "We need food don't we?" he said as his mom laughed.

"I like him in this class. She (Kennedy) takes time to teach them stuff they can use in life, teaches them to be independent," McClung said.

The same is true for Deanna.

"She's come a long way. When we first started doing this, Deanna wanted us to do it all. She didn't want anything to do with the microwave," Kennedy said. But after she saw all the other students cooking, she wanted to try it, too.

Her mother, who owns a pizza shop in Gettysburg, says she can see the difference in her daughter at home.

"Big change. A little more independent. And she wants to do more of the things the other kids do," Marinelli said.

She's started helping out more around the house with making her bed and folding clothes.

Kennedy says it's important for them to learn these things so they won't be afraid of how to go about doing them when they begin to do for themselves. Marinelli says it's also transferring over to their social side -- Deanna went to the prom this year.

"I hear her say things like, 'I have friends,'" Marinelli said. "She's autistic so she kind of lives in her own world and I see her starting to come out of that world."

Editor's note: This feature, which appears each Tuesday, is a celebration of the people, places and things, past or present, that make this area unique. If you have a story idea or comment, call City Editor David N. Dunkle at 262-4764, or or e-mail him at ddunkle@chambers.gannett.com