You’re Invited to NHA’s 2026 Graduation

Family, friends, and the Northwest Ohio community are invited and encouraged to celebrate with New Horizons Academy’s Class of 2026 at this year’s graduation ceremony on May 17, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. at NHA’s Career Center Gym (854 S. Shoop Ave., Wauseon, Ohio).

NHA is pleased and proud to announce its Class of 2026:

Sam Allen
Justin Bauer
Anne Deffenbaugh
Aiden Harner
Ava Keim
Bella Moon
Justice Nofziger
Kamil Plaza
Kendall Sickelbaugh
Eric Spiller
Julie Stiff
John (Jack) Syverson
Marcos Valderrama
Veronica Varnado

The Class of 2026 has selected the following for its graduation:

Class Flower: Purple Rose
Class Song: Dog Days Are Over
Motto: In the darkness, hope is something you give yourself.

Among this year’s graduation highlights will be:

Health-permitting, Principal Marty Friess presenting his grandson, Jack Syverson, his diploma,
Congratulating Valedictorian Anne Deffenbaugh on her acceptance to Ohio Wesleyan University,
Celebrating Jack Syverson on his acceptance to Owens Community College,
Recognizing Marcos Valderrama for over two years of dedicated work at McDonald’s, Ava Keim for starting her new job at Heritage Inn, and Sam Allen for his work experience at Red Robin all while in school.

“We are so excited to celebrate this big day with our graduates and their families,” shared NHA Principal Marty Friess. “Graduation is one of my favorite school events, because we get to celebrate the hard work and accomplishments of our students, as well as, thank their parents for their dedication, commitment, and trust in us. This year’s graduation is even more special and exciting for me. My grandson, Jack, will be graduating this year, and I’m so looking forward to sharing the stage with him and handing him his hard-won diploma. I hope everyone comes out for this year’s 2026 graduation ceremony.”

Congratulations to Our NHA Class of 2026!

NHA Still Accepting Student Applications for the 2026-27 School Year

New Horizons Academy (NHA) still has openings for students for the 2026-2027 school year in a few classrooms. NHA is finalizing its 2026-2027 student enrollment at all three of its locations, so please get your applications in TODAY!

Currently, NHA serves special education students from over 25 different school districts from across nine Northwest Ohio counties through its regional special education PK-12 school campus at 220 Lawrence Ave. in Wauseon, its Greater Toledo Area Campus at 6201 Trust Dr. in Holland—just off of Airport Highway, and its Career Center and Special Grounds Coffee Shop at 854 S. Shoop Ave. in Wauseon. If you are looking for the right special education placement for your preschool to high school student, a place where your child feels like he or she fits in, consider NHA.

NHA’s Wauseon & Springfield Township Campuses:

Are regional preschool to 12th grade special education schools
Have a 1:2—staff to student ratio
Specialize in individualized, personalized education
Provide strong academics, community involvement, life skills classes, and vocational training
Offer early intervention, (EI) conductive education (CE), sensory integration & speech/language pathology (SLP)
Participate in the College Credit Plus (CCP) Program
Are Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) Schools
Accept both the Autism & Jon Peterson Scholarships as payment in full.

NHA’s Career Center & Special Grounds Coffee Shop:

Prides itself on small classroom sizes (4-7 students)
Works with young adults up to age 21
Targets functional academics, vocational skills training, and work study placements
Provides on-site work study placements through its Special Grounds Coffee Shop including kitchen and food prep, counter and customer service work, roasting room and coffee packaging, and maintenance and cleaning
Helps transition high school students and special needs young adults into community work study programs
Provides job coaching and transportation to community work sites
Community work site partners include Heritage Inn, Chief Supermarkets, Goodwill Industries, Home Restaurant, The Candy Emporium, Triangular Processing, Mahnke Orchards & Lily Creek Farms, and with others coming on weekly.

Our mission is to help your child achieve the greatest independence possible through early intervention programs, classes, community activities, life skills training, vocational placements, and job coaching.

Steps to Enrollment:

Call the school at 419-335-7272 for more information.
Submit a copy of your child’s IEP or AEP & ETR for review.
Schedule a school tour, interview, and student assessment.
If accepted, complete student enrollment paperwork, and provide proof of residency.
Complete and accept the Autism or Jon Peterson Scholarship.

For more information on New Horizons Academy or to schedule a tour, contact Admissions Coordinator Michelle Nagle at 419-335-7272 or via email at michellen@sarasgarden.org.

Brewing Success

Brewing Success: Students Rack Up Real-World Skills at Special Grounds

The 2025-26 school year has been so successful so far! With a strategic schedule change for the students and a main focus on vocational training, the students have been able to hone in on developing skills in each part of Special Grounds – Coffee Truck, Coffee Shop, Kitchen and Roasting Department.

From checking off inventory, to rolling burritos, to fulfilling fundraising orders, to learning to steam milk on the truck, to customer service, and everything in between, we are excited to see how they use these skills in their very bright futures!

During the second half of the year, we are continuing to focus on developing these skills, along with, creating professional portfolios. As we have a large number of students who will be graduating this year, we want to make sure they are fully equipped to get started in a career that they love.

NHA Now Accepting Applications for 2026-27

All three New Horizons Academy (NHA) locations are now accepting new students for the 2026-2027 school year!

They include its regional special education PK-12 school campus at 220 Lawrence Ave. in Wauseon, its Greater Toledo Area Campus at 6201 Trust Dr. in Holland—just off of Airport Highway, and its Career Center and Special Grounds Coffee Shop at 854 S. Shoop Ave. in Wauseon. For more information or to begin the application process, complete the online interest form.

If you are looking for the right special education placement for your preschool to high school student, a place where your child feels like he or she fits in, consider NHA or its Career Center in Wauseon or its Holland or Springfield Township Campus. At NHA, kids come first. We exist for our students; our students do not exist for the school. Students don’t have to fit into the classes. The classes and programs are designed to meet the student’s individual needs. Please complete the online interest form to set up a tour, and find out if we are the right fit for your special needs student.

NHA’s Wauseon & Springfield Township Campuses:

Are regional preschool to 12th grade special education schools
Serving students from 25 different school districts across 9 Northwest Ohio counties
Have a 1:2.5—average staff to student ratio
Specialize in individualized, personalized education
Provide strong academics, community involvement, life skills classes, and vocational training
Offer early intervention (EI), conductive education (CE), sensory integration, occupational therapy (OT) & speech/language pathology (SLP)
Participate in the College Credit Plus (CCP) Program
Are Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) Schools
Accept both the Autism & Jon Peterson Scholarships as payment in full.

NHA’s Career Center & Special Grounds Coffee Shop:

Prides itself on small classroom sizes (5-8 students)
Works with young adults up to age 21
Targets functional academics, vocational skills training, and work study placements
Provides on-site work study placements through its Special Grounds Coffee Shop including kitchen and food prep, counter and customer service work, and maintenance and cleaning
Helps transition high school students and special needs young adults into community work study programs with job coaching and transportation provided

Our mission is to help your child achieve the greatest independence possible through early intervention programs, classes, community activities, life skills training, vocational placements, and job coaching.

Steps to Enrollment:

Complete the online interest form.
Submit a copy of your child’s IEP & ETR for review.
Schedule a school tour, interview, and student assessment.
If accepted, complete student enrollment paperwork, and provide proof of residency.
Complete and accept the Autism or Jon Peterson Scholarship.

For more information on New Horizons Academy or to schedule a tour, call Admissions Coordinator Michelle Nagle at (419) 335-7272, email her at michellen@sarasgarden.org or complete the online interest form, and our admissions team will get right back with you.

Classes begin in August, so begin the enrollment process today!

2026 NHA Graduation Planned

Congratulations to NHA’s 2026 graduates… our LARGEST graduating class yet!

At this year’s 2026 graduation, New Horizons Academy (NHA) hopes to break its own 2023 graduation record. This year, NHA hopes to graduate up to 15 young people…its largest graduating class yet!

On May 17 at 1:00 p.m. at the Career Center (854 S. Shoop Ave., Wauseon, OH 43567), up to 15 students will cross the stage and celebrate their high school accomplishments. They will be receiving their high school diplomas or certificates and graduation seals. All graduates are asked to arrive by noon.

NHA is pleased and proud to announce the potential members of its 2026 graduating class:

Sam Allen
Justin Bauer
Anne Deffenbaugh
Aiden Harner
Ava Keim
Bella Moon
Justice Nofziger
Kamil Plaza
Kendall Sickelbaugh
Grayson Snider
Eric Spiller
Julie Stiff
John (Jack) Syverson
Marcos Valderrama
Veronica Varnado

The community is invited and welcome to attend this year’s graduation ceremony!

“We are so excited to celebrate this big day with our graduates and their families,” shared NHA Principal Marty Friess. “Graduation is one of my favorite school events, because we get to celebrate the hard work and accomplishments of our students, as well as, thank their parents for their dedication, commitment, and trust in us. This year’s graduation is even more special and exciting for me. My grandson, Jack, will be graduating this year, and I’m so looking forward to sharing the stage with him and handing him his hard-won diploma. I hope everyone comes out for this year’s 2026 graduation ceremony.”

Congratulations to our 2026 graduates!

2025-26 NHA Yearbook Sponsorship

We are so thankful to our sponsors for making this past year’s yearbook project possible.

Our goal is to once again provide our students and their parents with this very special memento. We hope to raise funds through sponsors in order to keep the costs of the yearbooks as low as possible, so that more students and their families will be able to afford one.

We invite you to consider being a sponsor of this very special project!

We also gladly accept general donations for those not interested in being recognized as sponsors.

COST: $150.00

This level of sponsorship includes a 3.75″ x 4.25″ (approx.) color advertisement in the yearbook, recognition on our website and recognition on social media with a link to your business’ social media page or website.

DONATE NOW

COST: $90.00

This level of sponsorship includes a business card sized color advertisement in the yearbook and recognition on our website.

DONATE NOW

COST: $30.00

This level of sponsorship includes your business or name listed in the yearbook and website.

DONATE NOW

Advertisements are requested to be received by April 30, 2026.
Ads can be emailed in .jpg/.jpeg format to karab@sarasgarden.org.
Ads may be dropped off at Sara’s Garden or New Horizons Academy.

Sara’s Garden is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization and your donation is tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. To claim a donation as a deduction on your U.S. taxes, please keep your email donation receipt as your official record. We’ll send it to you upon successful completion of your donation.

Handcrafted Hope Christmas Ornaments

This holiday season, we’re excited to offer custom, handmade Christmas ornaments, all lovingly crafted by talented students from all three of our New Horizons Academy campuses! Each ornament is a unique keepsake that captures the spirit of the season while supporting our NHA school community.

These beautiful ornaments can be painted or left as natural wood layers. If you choose to have your ornament hand painted, our students will be putting their creativity and holiday spirit to work by hand painting one-of-a-kind Christmas ornaments just for you! Each ornament will be painted by our young artists using tasteful holiday colors, making every piece a unique and personal keepsake.

All proceeds from this ornament sale will go towards the ongoing purchase of equipment and supplies for our Handcrafted Hope family and consumer science program, and every ornament purchased helps our students learn, create, and grow.

Order deadline: Friday, November 7, 2025

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Hours

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Event has ended

Paying by check?
Checks made out to “Sara’s Garden” can be turned in with completed order forms at any campus main office.

Paying by credit card?
Credit card payments can be processed online by scanning the QR code found on the order form.

Ornament Options	Cost
2 Layer Ornament	$5.00
3 Layer Ornament (+ $2.00)	$7.00
4 Layer Ornament (+ $4.00)	$9.00
5 Layer Ornament (+$6.00)	$11.00

Click image to the right to enlarge examples of 2, 3, 4 and 5 layer ornament options.

Order form example below:

*FREE Custom Personal Laser Engraving Option (Available for Natural Wood ornaments ONLY)

Please neatly PRINT one upper case letter or character per space below. Our students will personalize your ornament with a FREE custom laser engraving. If you would like different laser engravings on each ornament, please complete a separate order form for each one.

Download Forms

Click on the thumbnails below to download the ornament order form and/or flyer. If you have any questions, please contact Matt at mattr@sarasgarden.org.

Ornament Flyer

Order Form

Ornament Layer Option Examples

A Special Thank You from Handcrafted Hope

Our NHA middle and high school students from the Handcrafted Hope Program would like to thank everyone that came out and supported their sale event on March 27. The event was a great success in so many ways. We couldn’t have done it without the amazing support of our staff, students, volunteers, community members, families and friends.

This year we had a unique item at the sale: Custom laser cut picture frames. A donor purchased a laser for our program and the kids have had a blast learning to cut and engrave items. For this year’s event, we provided order forms for attendees to purchase their own custom picture frames. The students did a great job of fulfilling those orders.

NHA Still Accepting Applications for 2025-26

New Horizons Academy (NHA) still has openings for students for the 2025-2026 school year! NHA is finalizing its 2025-2026 student enrollment at all three of its locations, so please get your applications in TODAY!

Currently, NHA serves special education students from over 25 different school districts from across nine Northwest Ohio counties through its regional special education PK-12 school campus at 220 Lawrence Ave. in Wauseon, its Greater Toledo Area Campus at 6201 Trust Dr. in Holland—just off of Airport Highway, and its Career Center and Special Grounds Coffee Shop at 854 S. Shoop Ave. in Wauseon. If you are looking for the right special education placement for your preschool to high school student, a place where your child feels like he or she fits in, consider NHA.

NHA’s Wauseon & Springfield Township Campuses:

NEW—Accept Autism Education Plans (AEPs), based upon a medical diagnosis of autism
Are regional preschool to 12th grade special education schools
Have a 1:2—staff to student ratio
Specialize in individualized, personalized education
Provide strong academics, community involvement, life skills classes, and vocational training
Offer early intervention, (EI) conductive education (CE), sensory integration, occupational therapy (OT) & speech/language pathology (SLP)
Participate in the College Credit Plus (CCP) Program
Are Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) Schools
With individual education plans (IEPs), accept both the Autism & Jon Peterson Scholarships as payment in full.

NHA’s Career Center & Special Grounds Coffee Shop:

Prides itself on small classroom sizes (5-8 students)
Works with young adults up to age 21
Targets functional academics, vocational skills training, and work study placements
Provides on-site work study placements through its Special Grounds Coffee Shop including kitchen and food prep, coffee bean flavoring and packaging, counter and customer service work, and maintenance and cleaning
Helps transition high school students and special needs young adults into community work study programs
Provides job coaching and transportation to community work sites
Community work site partners include Ace Hardware, Chief Supermarkets, Triangular Processing, Mahnke Orchards & Lily Creek Farms, Goodwill, Together We Can Make a Difference, Lott Industries, Culver’s, the Toledo Lucas County Public Library, and many others.

Our mission is to help your child achieve the greatest independence possible through early intervention programs, classes, community activities, life skills training, vocational placements, and job coaching.

Steps to Enrollment:

Call the school at 419-335-7272 for more information.
Submit a copy of your child’s IEP or AEP & ETR for review.
Schedule a school tour, interview, and student assessment.
If accepted, complete student enrollment paperwork, and provide proof of residency.
Complete and accept the Autism or Jon Peterson Scholarship.

For more information on New Horizons Academy or to schedule a tour, contact Admissions Coordinator Ronda Rupp at 419-335-7272 or via email at rondar@sarasgarden.org.

Congratulations 2025 Graduates!

New Horizons Academy (NHA) is pleased and proud to announce the members of its 2025 graduating class!

On May 18, nine NHA graduates celebrated their high school accomplishments at NHA’s 2025 graduation ceremony where they received their high school diplomas, certificates, and graduation seals.

This year was extra special as six of the nine graduates were from our Springfield Campus.

The Class of 2025 included:

Cahill Anspaugh
Joseph (Gabe) Carter
Cierra Flores
Bryce Hammond
Gavin Leal
Richard (Ricky) Murphy
Cooper O’Neal
Justin (JT) Tanksley
Lee Yockey

“We were so excited to celebrate this big day with our graduates and their families,” shared NHA Principal Marty Friess. “Graduation is one of my favorite school events, because we get to celebrate the hard work and accomplishments of our students, as well as, thank their parents for their dedication, commitment, and trust in us…sharing their children with us and letting us help them to grow, succeed, and graduate. I hope everyone enjoyed this year’s 2025 graduation ceremony.”

Congratulations to our 2025 graduates!