Breaking the Ice

Here we are at the end of July.

Just yesterday I was saying goodbye to the students after the commencement ceremony. After I finished wiping the tears from my eyes, I looked up and summer break was over.

With school starting again this week, parents of the new students are mailing boxes of supplies to campus, and students are messaging me on Facebook about roommate assignments and countdowns to opening day. Teachers are meeting and planning and praying. Res Life staff are cleaning and shopping. The copy machines and laminators are gasping and smoking from exhaustion. So much is going on to prepare for the return of our students!

After witnessing the preparations, talking to the staff, and watching all the commotion, I’ve decided the theme for the 2013/14 academic year must be “New”:

·         New dorms

·         New furniture

·         New workout area

·         New students – 25 of them!

·         New internship sites

·         New program – Ai Academy

·         New 1^st year class –  On and 4 Purpose (O4P)

·         New 3^rd year class – Christian Principles

·         New Instructors

·         New Residential Life staff

·         New Paras

Isn’t that exciting?! I want to tell you about them all, but today I’m going to focus on the new classroom assistants – the Paras.

Last week, Miss Houk held a Para meeting and training for the new team:

·         Kim A – 1^st Year Orange Team Para

·         Kathi – 1^st Year Blue Team Para

·         Lily – 2^nd Year Green Team Para

·         Kim H – 2^nd Year Yellow Team Para

·         Ashley – 3^rd Year Para

·         Julie – One-on-one Para

·         Elizabeth – Culinary Arts Para

Some of these women you’ll recognize from past blogs, but three of them are brand, spanking NEW. To get all the Paras comfortable with each other, Miss Houk planned an ice breaker during the training. They were to interview each other, and then share what they learned with the whole team. 

 The interview questions were as follows:

1.       What is your favorite food?

2.       If money is no issue, where would you like to travel?

3.       What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

4.       Why do you want to work at Shepherds College?

5.       What are two of your strengths?

6.       Share an interesting fact about yourself.

Kathi is a woman after my own heart. Chocolate is her favorite food. She would travel to South Africa to see her friends who are missionaries. When Kathi has a bit of free time, she enjoys visiting her friends in America too.  Kathi was exposed to Shepherds in various ways over the last ten years – a couple at her church worked here, our Handbell Choir played at her church, she visited campus on a high school tour, she found our website – and eventually, in God’s timing, she became part of the Shepherds College team. Her kindness and even temper will be a blessing to her students, and her “executioner” style of getting things done will be a blessing to the rest of the staff.  Something interesting about Kathi? She learned to waterski in her dating years and quickly became an avid water-skier.

Ashley loves a good Chicken Alfredo and would fly to London if her budget allowed. When Ashley isn’t working, she enjoys hanging out with her furry friends – dogs and horses. Ashley wanted to work at Shepherds College because she loves working with people, and who better to work with than our Shepherds College students! She’s bringing two important strengths to our college team – organization and communication, both so valuable in her role as classroom assistant. Her interesting fact? Ashley is a professional horse trainer!

Julie can’t decide if she wants Mongolian Beef or Chicken Enchiladas for dinner tonight. It’s tough to choose when your favorite food is either Chinese or Mexican. At some point in life, Julie would like to visit China for some real Dim Sum, but she’d also be happy if her travels took her to the Scandinavian countries, Finland or Russia. Like Ashley, Julie loves to work with animals when she has time off, but you can also find her exercising or reading. Julie knew when she toured Shepherds that God wanted her to be here. She knows that the college is a place where her strengths of organization and being a cheerleader for the underdog will be put to good use. You’ll be interested to know that Julie spent a year living in Mexico City during a mission trip.

The interviews not only served as an ice-breaker for the meeting, they also helped all the women get to know each other, and now, hopefully, helped you get to know a little about them as well.

Watch this blog in the coming days for more information on all the new and exciting things happening at Shepherds College!

Students, only four more days to go!

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.

Teacher Tuesday: A Social Para

A big part of my job as Director of Marketing for Shepherds College is social networking. It's hard for me to believe now, but before starting work at Shepherds over five years ago, it was common to hear me say, “Social what? Oh, you mean that face thingy … you know, that face… or is it space? … um, spacebook thingy.”

Now I can’t imagine my job without my daily dose of tweeting, pinning, posting, blogging, fact-sharing, friend-building activity.

Because of social networking – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogger and the like – I have been blessed in various and unexpected ways.

I can send out prayer requests and get immediate response from prayer warriors across the country.

I can celebrate important occasions, like our accreditation and FSA approval, and have any number of people join me nationwide in joyous whooping.

I am introduced to other organizations that share our passion for supporting people with intellectual disabilities, like Klundt Hosmer, Logan Magazine and Apostrophe Magazine.

I can read and be inspired by the work of other bloggers whose heart is vulnerable and open to whoever chooses to read their thoughts that day, like A Perfect Lily and Ellen Stumbo.

And I also meet amazing people who offer support, motivation and encouragement on a daily basis – someone like our new classroom para, Kim Anderson.

Mrs. Anderson became a regular on our Facebook page when her son Zoe started attending Shepherds College. She was eager for information on what Zoe was doing and “liked” and shared posts regularly, especially ones that included pictures of her son. 

Kim's son Zoe

Her enthusiasm for the college was contagious and some days it was just the boost I needed to keep plugging (and tweeting and posting and pinning) away.

All the warmth and interest Mrs. Anderson brought to our almost daily interactions online, she now brings to the students at Shepherds College. You can see by the big smile on her face that she thrives working with people with disabilities. They hold a special place in her heart.

I asked her about her experience teaching people with intellectual disabilities and was so impressed by her response, “My two children both have intellectual disabilities, so that is where I have the most experience.  I also volunteered as a “surrogate” parent for foster children who needed special education services. I was their advocate at IEP meetings and made sure they received the appropriate services they needed.

 I also served as a resource and mentor for parents who had children just being diagnosed with disabilities who were in need of special education services. A lot of these parents were in the denial stage of their children having special needs, so I was able to help them process that, as well as help them navigate the special education system.

Before coming to work for Shepherds College, I was in an Area Education Agency in Iowa. I supported staff who worked directly with children ages 0-3 who had intellectual disabilities. One of my responsibilities was to create tools for them to use with those children. That was a part of the job I really enjoyed!

Now I’ll be working one-on-one with a student using various ways to help him understand each lesson – hand motions, flash cards, white boards, computers -whatever is necessary to help him reach God’s full potential for him, and for him to reach the level of Appropriate Independence that will allow him to have a rich and fulfilling life.”

Wow! Not only am I impressed with Mrs. Anderson, but I’m amazed at the quality of people God consistently leads to work at Shepherds College. We are truly blessed.

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.