New 10th grade TCS student Piero Cataldo joined the Columbus School High School community from Bogota at the beginning of this school year.

Piero came to The Columbus School from Bogota when his father got a new job in Medellin.

“The reason why Piero came to this school is because his father moved from Bogota to Medellin, so they decided to take him here,” Daniela Correa, Learning Center Assistant, said.

In August, before the students entered the school, Enrique Macia, Piero’s teacher had a meeting with all the High School teachers, for them to know what to expect from this new student joining the community.

“Some of the characteristics of autism is that he might start saying a random quote from things that he likes,” Correa said.

During this meeting Macia also told them to tell Piero that, if he doing something inappropriate, please let him know rather than just staying quiet.

“The idea is for Piero to understand that what he is doing is wrong, so instead of the student to be shy and don’t say anything he or she, should let him know,” Correa said.

The goal of Enrique and Daniela is for Piero to be autonomous and that he can do day to day tasks without depending on someone telling him what to do.

“The idea is to give him techniques for him to feel good and for him to know what to do against different problems,” Correa said.

TCS students are making Piero feel at home by inviting him to participate in their class activities and his going to the convivencia. The goal is for the students to be more open to him.

“First of all that all of the students greet him all the time, where he passes they ask him how is he doing.” Correa said.

One of the best experiences that Piero has had with the school was the 10^th grade convivencia, held in Santa Elena on September 22^nd, 2017.

“The first activity was in groups, every member of the group closed their eyes except for one. This one was in charge of leading the others. In Piero’s group all decided that he should be the one who guide them, that’s what I mean like this they give him all the trust. Correa said.”

The goal of Macia and Correa is for Piero  to feel like home rather than being a new student with autism.

“The idea that the people of the other years, are now understanding Piero, is appropiate, but what they need to do now, is to tell him that things should be like they are and that they should be respected,” Correa said.