WCAX-TV reporter Keith McGilvery filed a two-part report last week that demonstrated the social and academic benefits of the college and university programs made possible by the Transition and Postsecondary Program for Students with Intellectual Disabilities (TPSID) grant which, as we posted yesterday, is in danger of having its funding dropped from the federal budget for fiscal year 2013.
The subject of McGilvery’s report is 29-yeard old Sterling Peebles, who is one of five students with a disability enrolled in the Think College program at the University of Vermont. UVM began the program last fall thanks to funding from the TPSID grant, and their program combines academic classes and internships into a two-year certificate program.
Part one of the report focuses on the social aspects of Peebles’ experience. The camera crew accompanies her on the 45-minute bus ride from her home in Montpelier to the UVM campus in Burlington. She had never rode the bus alone prior to joining the Think College program and she cites that as her proudest accomplishment thus far. We see her taking a Zumba class (with McGilvery gamely joining in), studying with a friend and talking about the friends she has made during her time in the program.
McGilvery also talks to UVM’s executive director of the Center for Disability and Community Inclusion, Susan Ryan, who secured more than $1 million from the TPSID grant for the program. Think College provides resources like tutors and mentors for the students but the expectation is they will have the same curriculum and be held to the same standard as all students at the University.
Part two of the report starts at the foosball table in the student center but quickly transitions to the academic aspect of Think College and the 18 credits Peebles will take over the two years. She took Freshman English and earned a B plus. Her professor, Jenny Grosvener, made it clear to McGilvery that this was no easy course, and it was Peebles’ resolve that got her through:
She rose to the expectations of that class. We read sophisticated essays, we read Orwell and Grealy…She had more drafts, she did more research…she worked harder to keep herself attentive.
Peebles herself is an interviewer’s dream; sprinkling film references and self-effacing jokes into her back-and-forth with McGilvery. It’s not surprising her career ambitions include working in the media. When McGilvery asks if she’s going to go after his job, she tells him glibly: “No, it’s safe.”
What is not necessarily safe, however, is the future of UVM’s Think College program and other TPSID-funded projects that are providing skills and experiences that help people with disabilities succeed in their workplaces and communities. Let’s hope that people like Sterling aren’t left behind.
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Image by Justin Henry, used under its Creative Commons license.