As I walked into Giant and scanned the check-out aisles for a tall grocery-bagger with streaky dark hair, I found myself not being able to distinguish him from among the other baggers standing at the end of lanes six, seven or eight. Realizing that it was irrational to assume that I would somehow be able to identify which worker had been a student in the Academic Support Center (ASC) simply by looking, I walked down the aisles until I reached check-out lane nine. There stood a boy, indistinguishable from others aside from his name tag identifying him as Sam Mabie.


Mabie feels his experience at Giant has aided in shaping his character by improving his social interaction skills.

“Sam is great. He’s the only bagger I enjoy working with,” said Giant cashier Brandon Coates. “He can get a little crazy, but it’s always in a good way.”

A 2008 graduate of WJ’s Academic Support Center and a former very involved member of the Best Buddies program, Mabie does not recall his journey to graduation to have been a laborious process at all.

“I didn’t really do much,” said Mabie. “They just let me graduate, but I still visit.”

Members of the ASC are not bound to the same graduation requirements of students outside of the program. Instead, these students dedicate their high school careers to improving upon functional life skills as well as taking reading, mathematics and writing and elective courses.

“For students within the program, they are given special education services through the age of 21,” said ASC teacher and Best Buddies sponsor Crystal Dovman. “That means that if the high school setting is the best place for the student, they may be here for up to seven years before they graduate. It really depends on the individual student and their needs.”

As they transition out of the high school environment to construct an independent life, students commonly advance to Montgomery College, acquire part-time jobs or gain support from state services which will help them find work and higher education. In Mabie’s case, the Career and Counseling Center (CCC) is his progression out of high school.

“I’m [taking the HSAs] in CCC,” said Mabie. “I had to pass the class exams [to graduate]. But I did get the President’s Award and I got an award for Best Achieved.”

Mabie, age 19, is now studying at the CCC. He builds his mastery of subjects such as geometry, algebra and geography as well as practicing life skills to navigate the city.

“We learn about how to use the metro bus and get around and make sure you don’t meet strangers,” said Mabie. “You just don’t talk to strangers, and if they talk to you, that’s really weird.”

Upon graduation from CCC, Mabie aspires to gain more specialized knowledge in mechanics by enrolling in Montgomery College.

“I want to be a mechanic,” said Mabie. “I’ll go to Montgomery College to learn about that stuff. Or I’d be a doctor, but that would be a lot of work.”

Though he held the job during his last two years at WJ, Mabie enjoys being able to apply to his job the typical loosening of the reigns that accompany the post-high school life.

“I can go straight to work instead of going to school, so I can work longer hours,” said Mabie. “I get lots of money.”

With that money Mabie envisions himself moving out of his Bethesda home to move south and live in an apartment close to his uncle, one step closer to fulfilling his dreams.

“I hope I get married, that the biggest thing, and I want a Chihuahua,” said Mabie.