My Story about Aggies Elevated at Utah State University

My story begins of how Aggies Elevated was a good program to help me get an education and a job at the Center for Persons with Disabilities. I have been in Aggies Elevated for two years. This program has helped me gain my independence by living on my own and helped me to succeed. I was able to take awesome classes and make new friends. The classes I took my first year in this program were Career Exploration, Strategies for Reading, University Connections, and Strategies for Academic Success for my first semester. My favorite class of that semester was the Strategies for Reading because I got taught how to have better writing skills and got to read good books. For the spring semester of 2016, the classes I took were Health and Wellness, Career Exploration Part 2, Country Swing Dance, Self-Determination, and a swimming class. For this semester, my favorite class had to be Self-Determination, because it helped me to learn skills to help gain confidence to become independent on my own.

The second year I was in Aggies Elevated was good and also a little rocky. There were some experiences I had to deal with in my personal life and school life at the same time. The classes were a little more challenging. The classes I took for my first semester of my second year were Introduction to Writing, Family Finance, Basketball, Career-Related Social Skills, and Work Internship. My favorite class was Career-Related Social Skills because I learned how to be a good employee at any place I worked at in the future. The skills I learned from this class include how to behave and act in a workplace. Also, to know the policies that need to be obeyed in a workplace at all times. It was a good class to have in this program to help me have the skills I need for the future so I can continue being successful. My last semester, the classes I took were Rape Aggression Defense, Navigating Adulthood, Work Internship, and Interpersonal Communication. My favorite class from my last semester was Work Internship because I enjoyed getting the job skills I need to have in any office job I wanted. I worked at an assisted living place for older adults, and it was called Terrace Grove. I enjoyed that because I got to do different office tasks and learn the basics and help the people if they needed anything. I really enjoyed doing that.

I had mentors I worked with who became my really good friends, and I let them know how I am doing. I got along with my mentors because they helped me learn skills that can help me in my future career, social, and personal life. They taught me how to create boundaries and helped me come up with goals that needed to be achieved. What I liked about Aggies Elevated is I got to learn skills that can help me do well in a job that I want. Also, I loved how the program was created and how it’s helpful to help people with disabilities to get a job and also go back to college. I liked how I had help to find the skills that I needed to have to learn to become an independent woman. The skills I learned were how to make boundaries, social skills, and job skills that are good in the working field. I also found out who I was and learned to become successful in life. I made good memories when I was in this program and kept doing the best I can. The memorable thing I had was that there was a time when a professor helped me with my assignment that was really hard to understand. I asked her if she could clarify what I needed to know about the essay in order to get a good grade in her class. She gave me suggestions on what would be easy for me to understand the instructions of how she wanted this essay written. It was a good experience. I learned from that it’s okay to ask for help when things are hard to understand.

I put a lot of effort into becoming successful and not letting the hard times get to me. I am grateful that I made friends in this program, and they were there for me in the hard times. I am still friends with these wonderful people and hang out with them occasionally. I am grateful that I learned boundaries and how to stand up for myself. The example I have is that there were fellow students who made me feel uncomfortable on certain things. I had to create boundaries on them because there are some things and situations that don’t need to become a big deal. I did not want people to know about personal things going on in my life. I enjoyed learning how to get the job skills that I needed so I can prepare for the career I want. I still have those skills I learned, and I use them in my daily life. The example I want to share is that the current job I am working at is at Utah State University. I am a receptionist in the Child Care Nutrition Program at the Center for Persons with Disabilities. I also help different departments with their office work as well. I help with the Up to 3 Program, Technical Assistance for Excellence in Special Education, and the business office by helping with different office tasks that need to get completed. I enjoy working at Utah State University because I love doing office work and I work with wonderful people.

Aggies Elevated is a good program to help young adults who have disabilities and want to be treated like other people and to get a chance to get an education and job-training skills. I really am grateful for the people who were in charge of this program and taught me how I can be independent and stay positive every day. I felt really excited that I am a successful adult and I keep smiling. I am happy to remember the good things and how beneficial this program was for me. I enjoyed learning how to get the job skills that I needed so I can prepare for the career I want. I still have those skills I learned and use them in my daily life. I am glad I have chosen this program to help me come so far and overcome so many obstacles. Aggies Elevated has been a great program to be in, and it helped me achieve the dreams I was able to reach for.