"For the kids, it's like winning the Super Bowl," said Paul Hudson , the school's president. "They're saying, 'We're going to Disney World.' They're more than excited."
For the past 11 years, students in their final year at the special needs school have been sent on a spring "graduation" trip to Disney World. The tradition is not only a rite of passage similar to the road trips many graduates take to bond with buddies and celebrate their hard-won adult status.
It also builds self-esteem for Cushing students, many of whom struggled at previous schools. The 120 -acre Hanover campus, serving approximately 130 residential and day students, and the smaller Braintree campus, which serves 40, educate special needs students through age 22 under the state's special education law.
Sixty years ago when the school for the developmentally disabled young people was founded -- a time when children with mental retardation were routinely sent to state institutions -- the Cushing school, then called St. Coletta's, was a pioneering school, Hudson said. "It's still pioneering for specialized services." After leaving the school, many young people move to community residential programs, some of which are also run by the Cushing Centers.
From the start, the trip's significant expenses were paid for by a volunteer-run fund-raiser event that became one of the most popular social events in the area, a dinner dance and auction attended by 500 to 1,000 people.
The event was the principal charity of the Abington Savings Bank , which donated money and encouraged its employees to volunteer to sell tickets, talk it up among friends, and round up an array of goods and services to be auctioned each year.
When that locally rooted bank was absorbed by another four years ago, part of the deal was the creation of a trust with sufficient funds to keep the Disney World trip going for three more years. The third year came last spring. With the money gone, final-year students at the Cushing school wondered whether they were going to have their chance to experience the trip they had long looked forward to.
The key play to save the trip was made by South Shore Savings Bank , based in South Weymouth, which took over the role of principal sponsor. Bank president John Boucher , who serves on the Cushing Centers' board of trustees, said it's the kind of event he wants his company recognized for. The decision was coached at home, Boucher said, by his wife, Mary , who volunteers at the school and reported that some of the students were broken up by the prospect of missing the trip.
Under the bank's leadership, volunteers set the dinner dance and auction this year for March 17 at the Indian Pond Country Club in Kingston, offered at a bargain price by owner Fred Tonsberg . Irish step dancers and the Cushing Centers choir will provide entertainment.
The financial challenge is a steep one. Fund-raisers are providing plane fare, hotel accommodations, meals, and amusement park fees for the students, an equal number of chaperones, and some health staffers. Total costs run around $50,000 . Organizers are aiming at an attendance of 400, hoping to build back up to previous totals, and have sold 200 tickets already.
Donations for the auction so far include a week's stay at a condo on South Beach in Miami, a weekend at the Ritz-Carlton Towers in Boston, airline tickets, and other vacation packages, including golf rounds.
The rescue of the Disney World trip sits well with student Janet Arsenault , who works in the school bakery and looks forward to challenging the skies. "I like going on the roller coaster," she said.
Holly Pye , also in her last year, works at TJ Maxx , likes clothes, and is looking forward to Animal Kingdom and the rides.
Teacher Richard Cole , trip coordinator for 11 years, said sees Disney World anew each year through the eyes of young men and women. Flying on a plane and staying in a hotel are first-time experiences for some of the students.
For more information about the fund-raiser, contact Patty Allo at Cardinal Cushing Centers at 781-829-1272 or by e-mail at pallo@coletta.org.
Robert Knox can be reached at rc.knox@gmail.com