Shrewsbury High’s M.O.V.E. director leaves legacy of advocacy and hope for students

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By Melanie Petrucci, Senior Community Reporter

Cathy LaRoche (second from left) with members of the Shrewsbury High School M.O.V.E. program gather around Gingerbread House they created earlier this month. Photo/Melanie Petrucci
Cathy LaRoche (second from left) with members of the Shrewsbury High School M.O.V.E. program gather around Gingerbread House they created earlier this month.
Photo/Melanie Petrucci

Shrewsbury – During the year, under the direction of Cathy LaRoche, director of the Shrewsbury High School Special Education department, 12 SHS students have participated in the Mobile On-Site Vocational Exploration (M.O.V.E.) program at two Marlborough hotels – The Courtyard by Marriott and Best Western Royal Plaza. In doing so, they have gained real work experience as well as ways to boost their self-confidence and self-esteem.

Recently LaRoche retired although she is continuing on with the program part-time through the end of the school year.

Earlier this month, the students completed another one of their primary projects – constructing their eleventh annual ‘M.O.V.E. Gingerbread House’ that they planned and prepared with culinary staff at the Courtyard Marriott.

The spectacular house is now on display in the school’s main office, located at 64 Holden St. It was an opportunity for these students to practice communication, problem solving, planning and organizational skills and to share with the rest of the school what they can do.

“Any class like the M.O.V.E. class always needs to move forward with a set of goals and ways to help challenge students,” said Patrick O’Connor, a special education teacher at the school. “Cathy LaRoche has been a central part of that. She has acted as an advisor and as an advocate and in many cases as an educator – to help challenge the students.”

The M.O.V.E. program promotes the union of classroom learning and real world, hands on experiences to special education students who are confident and empowered and ready for employment. They are transported by bus each school day to the Courtyard by Marriott and the Best Western of Marlborough where they learn and practice culinary skills, work in restaurants as well as other areas in real world work situations.

Originally formed as a federally funded program in 1989 and Assabet Valley Technical High School held the program; however, the funding ran out in 2005.

“My chef came to me and the chef from the Best Western, we were the two sites that used to run the program, they said ‘we want to keep the program – how do we do it?’” explained Mary Simone, the general manager at the Courtyard by Marriott. General Manager.

They needed to pick a high school to partner with; SHS was selected because Simone had a connection with the school – her kids went there.

“When we started it was very small and we had four kids go to the Courtyard and four kids go to the Best Western…once Cathy came on board we did a lot of great things,” added Simone.

In November, the students planned a surprise luncheon to honor LaRoche for her semi-retirement. There she was presented with a cookbook of the history of the M.O.V.E. program and students’ recipes and photos.

M.O.V.E. students include: Jack Flagg, Nate Goyne, Aileen Henry, Nadia Huda, John Lemoine, Chris Liu, Jake Rogers, Spenser Seraphin, Ariana Snell, Sam Turner, Ross Vipraio, Isaak Weinman and Justin Wentzell.

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