Under federal law, people with disabilities receive a public high school education at no cost until the age of 21.

According to the East Syracuse Minoa School District, a group of students started asking questions about when they could go to college when their friends would graduate. ESM administrators went to work to see what they could do for the students.

There is something special about the daily bus trip for high schoolers enrolled in New Heights, a program offered by East Syracuse Minoa schools for disabled students that are 18 to 21 years of age. It started in 2016.

They spend their school days on the Le Moyne College campus. They walk the campus, have morning meetings with their teacher Jonathan McCoy in Le Moyne's Dolphin Den, make small talk and catch up on events from overnight. Then the students pack up and it's off to work.

Each student has a job on Le Moyne's campus.

Zac Smith is heading to start his shift at the mailroom. Smith is blind. He started the New Heights program in September, and he has memorized every step and staircase from the Dolphin Den to his workplace.

He described mailroom activity as he worked.

“At 150, wait until the noise stops," he said. "As you can see, there are letters are coming out.”

The work program is key for teaching independence and career readiness.

“Zac’s teaching us quite a bit, to be honest with you,” McCoy said.

“I’ll show you around," Smith said. "We have teacher mailboxes, and going over here, we have office mailboxes."

Teaching assistant Katie Hager also praised Smith.

“Zac went through and made brail labels for all the mailboxes and all the envelopes so that he could be completely independent, which is really cool,” she said.

Meanwhile, across campus, classmate Christina Smith set up the dining hall for lunch.

“We have special days on Friday called Dining Hall Friday. Just being here’s amazing,” she said.

“I’ve seen extreme growth in maturity levels in their social skills and just adapting certain situations in this environment," McCoy said.

The students don't just work and hang out. They have class at Le Moyne, too.

McCoy hopes they can continue to provide the unique transitional experience of education and work preparation.

“I think there’s endless opportunities,” McCoy said.