NHA Now Accepting Applications for 2024-25

All three New Horizons Academy (NHA) locations are NOW accepting new student applications for the 2024-2025 school year! NHA is so pleased to announce that it is accepting new student applications for 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 new Career Center and Special Grounds Coffee Shop at 854 S. Shoop Ave. in Wauseon. Currently, NHA serves special education students from over 25 different school districts from across nine Northwest Ohio counties. Call TODAY to find out more about NHA and its academic and vocational programs. Classes begin in August, so begin the enrollment process NOW.

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 in Wauseon, our Holland or Springfield Township Campus, or through the new Career Center. 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 visit us today, and see 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
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
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, 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, the Fulton County Airport, Goodwill Industries, Home Restaurant, Bittersweet, and Grieser Trucking 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 & 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 [email protected].

2023-24 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, 2024.
Ads can be emailed in .jpg/.jpeg format to [email protected].
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.

NHA Students Provide Love in a Box

Every Wednesday, a few students from New Horizons Academy have been brewing and hand delivering boxes of coffee purchased from Special Grounds Coffee to local businesses. This will give our students the opportunity to get out into the community and assist them in developing stronger communication and vocational skills and also providing some great coffee for these businesses to enjoy.

Our first day of this new program was on September 27th. Eli and Josiah were the first 2 students to assist in helping brew and deliver coffee to Hothules & Associates and Riley Tractor Parts.

The students have enjoyed going out and blessing additional businesses and organizations each week and learning more about what they do; such as Haas Door, the Wauseon Fire Department, Pettisville Grain, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department, Rupp Seeds, Ace Hardware and Grieser Transportation.

We will continue to brew and deliver coffee out to businesses each Wednesday throughout the school year. Thank you everyone for your continued support to our students and school.

NHS Playground is Complete!

It’s time to play! The students at our Springfield campus now have a safe, outdoor space to play! Thank you so much to everyone who helped make this project a reality. We are so grateful to all the foundations, organizations, businesses and individuals who donated and took part in the fundraising events that made this all possible.

The kiddos at NHS have loved having a beautiful green space with amazing playground equipment to use at school. It is also a great space for teachers to take their students out and have activities on the enclosed grass surface.

We now have a playground where children of all types of abilities can play together; one that addresses the needs of typically developing children as well as children with neurological, intellectual and physical disabilities. We are so thankful to finally have an inclusive playground that accommodates all children and challenges each of them at their own developmental levels.

2023 NHA Christmas Musical

Grab your ten-gallon hats and cowboy boots, and hustle on down to Pettisville Missionary Church on December 12, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. for a foot-stompin’ holiday hoedown!

This year, New Horizons Academy (NHA) will be putting on a fun, toe-tapping, country spectacular for its Christmas Musical.

NHA’s preschool to high school students, along with Music Teacher Melissa Valentine, will be putting on a Christmas Musical that no one will forget!

Be sure to save the date, and mark your calendars so you don’t miss NHA’s Holiday Country Hoedown.

Event Date:	Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Event Location:	Pettisville Missionary Church, Pettisville, Ohio
Event Time:	6:30 p.m.

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You’re not going to want to miss this memorable holiday event!

If you have any questions or need any additional information, please call the school office at 419-335-7272 or contact NHA Music Teacher Melissa Valentine.

Springfield Playground Project Underway

New Horizons Academy (NHA) has officially broken ground and begun installing its inclusive, multisensory playground equipment at its Springfield Township Campus. NHA hopes to unveil the new playground at the beginning of this school year in August. Come on out August 17 for the school Open House and get a peek at our new, AWESOME playground!

In the coming weeks the artificial grass turf and fence are scheduled to be installed. But for now, get a sneak peek of our playground under construction!

Donations are still being accepted to help cover the cost of this new play area, so please consider giving today or walking in the September 2023 NHA Fun Run/Walk.

Back to School Open Houses

We are so excited to welcome back to school our NHA students and parents with our school Open House on August 17. To make the Open House a little less overwhelming for our special needs students and to give them and their parents more time to find their rooms and to talk with their teachers, principal, therapists, conductors, and classmates, NHA will be staggering its open house schedule.

Open House date for all campuses: Thursday, August 17

Springfield Campus—6201 Trust Dr., Holland

4:30-6:00 p.m.

Be sure to check out our NEW, fully accessible playground!

Wauseon Campus—220 Lawrence Ave, Wauseon

4:30-5:15 p.m.—STAR & KIT Classes
5:30-6:15 p.m.—Mr. Ryan’s & Ms. Anna’s Classes & Middle School
6-6:45 p.m.—Conductive Education (CE)

Sara’s Garden Building—620 W. Leggett, Wauseon

6-6:45 p.m.—Junior High & High School

Career Center—854 S. Shoop Ave., Wauseon

4:30-6:00 p.m.—New Students
5-6:00 p.m.—Returning Students

For more information on NHA, please call the school offices:

Wauseon—419-335-7272
Springfield—567-703-1322

Congratulations to NHA’s 2023 graduates!

Congratulations to NHA’s LARGEST Graduating Class Yet!

At this year’s 2023 graduation, New Horizons Academy (NHA) broke its own 2021 record, graduating 12 students…its largest graduating class yet!

On May 21 at the Career Center, 12 students crossed the stage and celebrated their high school accomplishments. They included:

Luke Chambers
Tony Conti
Tyler Davidoff
Hannah Engler
Gabe Hobby (Salutatorian)
Arek Jadwisiak
Noah Nagel (Valedictorian)
Logan Parker
Josh Parran
Cadince Ramirez
Ellisha Rodriguez (Receiving her long-awaited diploma from 2020)
Jackson Snider

Our graduates are headed out on many and diverse career paths. Noah is hoping to begin college classes in the fall at Revere Bible College. Luke, Tony, Tyler, Hannah, Gabe, Arek, Logan, and Cadince will be exploring part-time jobs and career training programs. Josh and Jackson will join Ellisha returning to develop their vocational skills at the Career Center and Special Grounds Coffee in August.

Photos from the graduation ceremony can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.696534239146887&type=3

Congratulations to our 2023 graduates!

Hey Springfield… Let’s Play OUTSIDE!

“Let’s play OUTSIDE!” are words that we hope to hear very soon at New Horizons Academy’s Springfield Campus. After over two years of grant writing and fundraising, we hope to break ground mid-April on our long awaited playground project. Our hope is to unveil this fully accessible, multi-sensory playground in August to kick off the new school year.

After years of playing in the school hall and sensory room, NHA’s kiddos are ready to break free, soak in the green therapy, and PLAY!

Educators know that play is about more than just recreational activities, recess, or break time for our students. Play helps children, of all ability levels, increase their physical fitness, reduce obesity, gain emotional and mental mastery, lay the groundwork for creative thinking, promote cognitive development and reasoning, develop their fine and gross motor skills, improve their problem solving abilities, and offer them opportunities to try out new social patterns and behaviors.

This fully inclusive, multi-sensory playground will offer children and youth of all ability levels and their families a place to explore, discover, and grow together. The play area will address the needs of typically developing children, as well as, children with neurological, intellectual, and physical disabilities. It will be rich in sensory experiences, music and movement, physical fitness, social interactions, and physical challenges. The playground will also naturally expand and enhance NHA’s physical education, rehabilitation, conductive education, wellness, therapeutic and recreational programs.

The playground will feature many different elements that our special needs kids will love including—swinging, spinning, climbing, sliding, balancing, rocking, dancing, strengthening their bodies, integrating their senses, and listening to music from adaptive outdoor switches. The playground equipment will include inclusive, adaptable swings, slides, rockers, climbers, obstacle courses, parallel bars, balance beams and musical instruments.

We are super excited that the playground will also now feature three sensory rings. Children can engage with visual, tactile, and auditory sensors, including sound panels that feature interaction with adaptive switch inputs.

For green therapy, there will also be a large grassy area for students to explore, discover, and sit on for outdoor classes, activities, and reading. There truly is something for everyone!

Among the organizations and groups, which have helped make this dream a reality, are—the LPGA Dana Open, the Ohio Elks Cerebral Palsy (CP) Fund, Lockrey Manufacturing, Everence, Giving Tuesday 419, the NHA Fun Run/Walk, and many, many caring individuals and families. Donations are still being accepted, so please consider giving today or walking in the NHA Fun Run/Walk in September.

Playground Timelines:

Mid-April—Begin cutting out the blacktop and pavement for the foundation.
May—Installation of fence posts and the temporary construction fence.
June—Prepping the foundation and drainage.
July—Playground equipment arrives, and installation begins.
Mid-July—Installation of the artificial grass playground surface.
Late-July—Installation of the 6’ high vinyl privacy fence around the playground and fob entry for safety and security.
Mid-August—Finalize playground equipment installation.
August 21—First Day of School & Unveiling of the Playground

What’s My Name?

NHA has such an awesome mascot. The kids absolutely love it when the eagle makes an appearance in their classrooms. There is so much joy and wonder as they jump around and give it hugs. However, we just realized that our eagle was missing something very important… a name.

We needed to fix that!

During Right to Read Week, we held a contest with the Wauseon and Springfield campuses to come up with a name for our amazing eagle mascot.

Classrooms submitted some very creative name ideas. Ballots were then collected in a beautiful eagle submission box created by our very own Ms. Nicole. The finalists were (in alphabetical order):

Apollo (Ms. Caryn)
Everest (Ms. Kara)
Joy (Ms. Janelle)
Ozzy (Ms. Anna)
Thunder (Ms. Renate)

All students and staff will receive a special gift this week to commemorate our mascot finally getting a name.

The winner is… (cue AC/DC music)… THUNDER!

Ms. Renate’s vocational studies class will get an additional treat for winning the contest and coming up with Thunder the Eagle’s name.