Free Wasilla summit Monday helps students with disabilities plan for life after school

Mat-Su students with disabilities can practice job interviews and get help planning for life after high school at a free summit Monday afternoon in Wasilla.

The second Connected for Success summit runs from 1 to 5 pm Nov. 2 at Mat-Su Career & Tech High School. LINKS Resource Center, the Mat-Su Borough School District and IDEA Homeschool are hosting it for students ages 14 to 21, their families and educators.

Breakout sessions cover college and career options, how to use a student's individualized education program, or IEP, to plan for adulthood, and housing and independent-living services around Alaska. Community organizations will have tables, and students can sit for mock interviews. Organizers suggest those students dress professionally.

The district also runs community-based transition programs for adult students ages 18 to 22 with significant disabilities, and each student's IEP team decides who is placed in them, according to its special education office.

Statewide, 1,482 students with disabilities ages 14 to 21, from 116 communities, got pre-employment help such as job exploration counseling, work-based learning and workplace readiness training last year, according to the state's 2025 vocational rehabilitation report. The state spent about $2.1 million on those services.

LINKS also held a disability resource fair for Mat-Su families in June. Stone Soup Group runs an online transition series for families statewide, with its next session Nov. 18.

Walk-ins are welcome at the summit, and registration is on the LINKS event page.