Commencement is always a big deal. All the hard work, all the things learned are acknowledged and celebrated. It’s a beautiful send off.
This year, UNCG will mark another passage – the first group of Beyond Academics students will don cap and gown and graduate with an Integrative Community Studies certificate, offered through the Office of Undergraduate Studies.
It’s going to be a good day, a satisfying day.
Beyond Academics, a four-year certificate program for college-age students with intellectual disabilities, gives these students the chance to go to college and learn to live on their own, just like their peers.
The program started at UNCG in 2007 with eight students, including Demario Chandler.
After high school, Demario had been living at home in Winston-Salem and volunteering with the basketball team at his alma mater. Another volunteer, Rusty, who now works for Beyond Academics, told him about the program.
“I thought I would give it a try and see what happens,” Demario said.
Quite a lot happened. In his junior year at UNCG, Demario was accepted into the associate’s degree program at GTCC for entertainment technology concurrent with the Beyond Academics program.
In his last year, he continued something he began his first year at UNCG – working with the men’s basketball team. On game days, Demario sat behind the bench, ready to give out water and towels during the timeouts. He was at every practice.
In addition to participating in campus activities, Beyond Academics students take courses in nutrition, healthy lifestyles, building personal relationships, conflict resolution, advocacy, home management, budgeting, transportation, community inclusion and career development.
The ultimate goal is to leave the program able to live a more independent, fulfilling life. That starts with learning to live away from families and without a support person around the clock.
Students in the program typically begin by living in nearby student apartments with other college students. They go to classes during the day, and in the evening a campus and community support (CCS) person comes by to hang out. In the early part of the program, CCS students come by frequently to help cook dinner, watch TV or take the Beyond Academics students to the mall or maybe a basketball game, helping them practice social skills and become a part of the campus community.
By the end of the program, students go to the grocery store, visit the bank, navigate transportation and live on their own with little assistance – and have goals for life after UNCG.
Two of the six graduating seniors hope to be entrepreneurs. One creates doggie treats. Another loves catering and interned at Spring Garden Bakery.
“We want them to leave with a job or meaningful activity,” said Joan Johnson ’75, executive director of Beyond Academics. “Not all college students leave with a job. Some do community activism type of work like AmeriCorps. We expect our students to mirror that exactly.”
Ask Demario how he feels about graduation and his short answer is typical of a lot of college students: “It’s scary.”
But plenty of others have enough excitement for him.
“It’s going to be a good day, a satisfying day,” said Eric Marshburn, director of admissions for Beyond Academics. “Definitely emotional, for sure.”
Want to learn more about Beyond Academics? Read the feature article in the Spring 2011 UNCG Magazine.
Photography by David Wilson, University Relations
