Spring Semester

The Spring semester is off to a fantastic start!! We are so busy here on campus we can barely find time to blog anymore.  This is a great problem to have.

We currently have seven student enrolled in our program and all seven students are enrolled in a Penn State academic class that they auditing.  The students report back that they are loving their classes and enjoying meeting new people.  Some of the students have peer mentors accompanying them to class and others are attending on their own.  Some of the classes they students are enrolled in include:  Badminton, Yoga, Adolescent Development, Interpretations of Humanities, Pop Culture and Folk Life, Women & Gender Studies, and Earth II.

In addition to their academic classes the students are participating in practicum opportunities both on and off campus.  You can find our students gaining tons of on the job training with support from our job coaches at Keystone Human services at the CUB on campus, the copying center, in the marketing department, and at the West Shore Country Club just to name a few.

As always the students are also enjoying all aspects of campus life.  They have had many samples of free ice cream, made stuffed animals at the Build a Stuffy event, and even decorated cakes for Valentine's Day.  Of course the students still find time to catch a game or two of air hockey every now and then.

We continue to be incredibly proud of our hardworking students.  The growth, maturity and steps towards independence are extremely impressive.  Keep up the hard work everyone!!

Week Eleven

This week on campus we finished our last week of My Voice Matters on Tuesday.  The students and the peer mentors had to perform role play scenarios demonstrating their understanding of self-determination.  They did a great job not only with their skits but also with the entire three week training as a whole.  Thank you to Grace Alfiero for imparting self-determination wisdom on us.

On Wednesday, the students had a chance to ride in a peddle car/dune buggy around campus, but they had to wear beer googles as they were driving.  This distorted their visual perceptions to allow the students to see how dangerous it is to drink and drive. It was a fun event with a serious message.

Finally, on Thursday we had some visitors to campus from Lycoming county.  They came to see what the program was all about and also to tour the campus.  Our one student and peer mentor served as campus tour guides and showed our visitors all around the campus.  The students also had the chance to enjoy a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner on campus today.

We wish all students and their families a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

PACEC

On Friday, November 11th we had the opportunity to speak about our Career Studies program at the Pennsylvania Conference for Exceptional Children.

Dr. Rhen, Tonya Bishop, Jenny Slatt, and Noah Rinhart attended the conference and gave a brief and informative presentation on the program.  The reaction to the presentation was very positive.  Many individuals from different areas throughout the state have sparked interest in the success of post secondary education programs for individuals with intellectual disabilities, and we could not be happier.

It was a great day and on a side note the key note speaker, Shane Burcaw was an amazingly inspirational speaker.  If you you have the chance you should swing by his blog and also purchase his book entitled, Laughing at My Nightmare.

http://laughingatmynightmare.tumblr.com/

Student of the Month- December

We are proud to announce that our Student of the Month for December is Loren!!

This is Loren's second year in the program.  She just completed her practicum experience with the Dauphin County Recycling center.  In addition to being enrolled in the Customer Relations course here at Penn State, Loren also audited an Art course last semester as well.

Loren will continue here at Penn State next semester where she will again audit another course and participate in a practicum on campus.

Loren is very outgoing, quick to help out a friend in need, has a fun and bubbly personality and is a joy to be around.  Did we mention she is an excellent writer too and may even be a guest blogger next semester?

Loren- we are so proud of you and all that you have accomplished this semester.  Keep up the great work!!

Student of the Month- November

We are proud to announce that our Student of the Month for November is Sam!!

Sam is in his second year in the program here at Penn State.  After completing his job shadow experience at Hershey's Chocolate World last year, he was offered a position in the retail sales department.  Sam continues to work at Chocolate World and is one of their valued employees.

When Sam is not at work, he spends a lot of time with us here on campus.  Sam is currently completing a practicum opportunity with the Physical Plant here on campus.  He is also the tour guide for potential students interested in the Career Studies program, and is continuing in the Customer Relations course in preparation to take the Nationally recognized exam.

Sam is very active in Special Olympics and is an awesome soccer player.

Sam always has a smile on his face, is constantly helping anyone around him, and is quick to joke around and have fun with both classmates and peer mentors.


Next semester Sam will be back on campus and will be taking an academic course, Badminton.  His practicum experience will be on campus again at the CUB.

Congratulations Sam!!  We are so proud of you!!