While Oak Harbor High School is the home of the Wildcats, several different cats can be seen roaming through the halls this year.

They are the Copycats, a group of special education students who have been running the copying services at the high school for teachers.

The program helps teachers while teaching practical skills for the students. It’s one of a couple of new and unique projects for special ed students at the school.

“I think its a pretty good program because it helps teachers out and helps us get work experience,” said Robert Haynes, a student who also helps supervise fellow students in the program.

The students, wearing purple “Copycats” shirts, take orders from the teachers. They operate the copy machines, sort and deliver the the copies to the teachers.

“It’s fun,” said student Michael Johnson. “You have a choice of putting it into their mailboxes or delivering them.”

Since starting the program, the Copycats offer their services two class periods per day, three days a week. The Copycats produced approximately 5,000 copies since the beginning of the school year.

Diane Fesler-Macaluso, an occupational therapy assistant at the high school, said the program is also a big help for the teachers.

“The copy machines are pretty temperamental and (students) needed to learn how to clear the machine,” Fesler-Macaluso said. She added the students have the time and patience to deal with paper jams and allow teachers to concentrate on their classes.

She added that some students were recently given the added responsibility of supervising others making copies.

Some of the students are able to work independently and could do the work with a minimum of supervision.

“It was time to back off and let students show initiative,” Fesler-Macaluso said.

She expects students in Copycats to learn how to arrive on time and work independently. The students have to learn to properly operate the computerized copy machines and to produce a good quality work product that teachers can use, Fesler-Macaluso said.

Also, special ed students are working to make the greenhouse at the high school handicap accessible.

The students are repairing tables, making sure several of them can be used by students in wheelchairs, and installing a concrete floor.

Johnson said the tables are going to be really short so students in wheelchairs can watch the plants grow. Once the work is complete, the students will start to grow a variety of herbs and plants they will eventually sell.

“The work that we’re doing is student motivated,” Fesler-Macaluso said.

The greenhouse work is expected to be complete by the end of the month and the students will sell their products sometime next spring.

She said the greenhouse project will provide a practical application to their science, math and writing instruction. The students will also prepare a Power Point presentation about their project.

Between 22 and 30 students are participating in the greenhouse project and are planning to work with a local nursery to help get the project off the ground.

The greenhouse project is funded by a $1,500 grant from Oak Harbor Education Foundation.

Fesler-Macaluso said that the Copycats isn’t funded with any new money. She was transferred to the high school this year to help with programs for the special education students.