The Huntley Community School District 158 special‑education department presented a new student-run storefront and vocational program, LightWorks, designed to provide hands‑on job training and entrepreneurship experience for students in the district’s transition program.

Mr. Pankey, the program lead, described LightWorks as a flexible storefront and service operation that will rotate student roles, develop job descriptions, and provide paid or volunteer opportunities to learn point-of-sale, inventory, marketing and production skills. The program will feature event-driven sales rather than a full-time store: first up is a spirit‑wear resale drive in which collection boxes are already placed at district schools. Students will sort, price and manage sales; other potential products include plants from school greenhouse towers, greeting cards, 3‑D printed items and student-made crafts.

Pankey said the storefront will also offer service-based tasks to support district events and community partners, and that students can apply and interview for rotating positions to learn employment-related processes. The district plans to use Square for point‑of‑sale and inventory tracking and expects revenue to be reinvested in the business for equipment and student programming.

Board members praised the program and asked for details about participation. Pankey said about 40 students are scheduled at the Vine Street location and that, overall, the transition program serves roughly 60 students; the storefront will provide opportunities to many of them depending on schedules and IEP plans.

Why it matters: LightWorks creates structured community-facing work experiences for transition‑program students and formalizes vocational and entrepreneurial pathways the district has piloted in clubs and market stalls.

What’s next: The program will run pop‑up sales this year (spirit‑wear drive, plant sales and seasonal products). Staff said they will report back later in the school year with student outcomes and a summary of revenue and lessons learned.