Spartan Kid

My name is Brandon Baldwin, and I am in my senior year of the Beyond Academics program at UNC Greensboro. I am excited about having the opportunity to share my journey with you. I’ve had some great and not-so-great experiences, but they have all taught me a lot. So here goes . . .

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I have leukodystrophy, and as a result I struggle with apraxia of speech, dyslexia, recall, and processing disorders. This has made education and socializing very challenging for me. When I was in high school, I wanted to go to college like my brother and cousins had done. By the time I hit my junior year, I realized that might not happen. I had lots of amazing teachers, but two really influenced my life. Coach Fred Norris, who taught me history was always there for me and supported me in anything I wanted to do; he believed in me. Another teacher was Coach Ashton Peacock; she was my English teacher. She is the one who started my love for writing. Don’t get me wrong, I hated English, but Coach Peacock encouraged me to write, and that is where I found myself. Because of all of that support, I knew I needed to try to figure out a way to go to college. My parents started looking into programs that might be a good fit for me. We lived in Texas, and there really weren’t any good programs in the entire state. I know, hard to believe! So, we found a few on the East Coast and decided to visit them. We narrowed it down to three programs and visited those schools. The first two we visited were nice, but they were not for me. Then we visited UNC Greensboro and realized that was where I needed to be. My mom was worried about me being so far away from home, but we applied anyway. It was my senior year in high school, and we heard back from the Beyond Academics program that I was conditionally accepted, but I had to wait a year. The program at Beyond Academics was limited to a certain number of students, which is why I was wait-listed for a year. At first, we were sad because I wanted to go from high school to college, but now, looking back on it, it was the best choice for me. I used that year to get used to being out of my high school routine, and I learned how to do some of my chores on my own. I learned how to do my own laundry and keep my room and bathroom clean.

The next year, I started at UNC Greensboro. When I moved into the dorm, I had three roommates. I was nervous, but one of my roommates was in my program, and the other two were regular students and very nice. We all had our own room, and I shared a bathroom. I wanted to try everything at the college and join as much as I could. I was scared about being on my own, but I was ready to try it.

In my freshman year, I tried a lot of different clubs and sports. I started playing club tennis. I ended up playing club tennis for two years. We would play two to three times a week, and in my sophomore year we participated in a tournament in Wilmington, North Carolina, at UNC Wilmington. That was my first real college experience that took me out of my comfort zone. I rode to Wilmington with my teammates, and we stayed in a hotel. The first night that we got there, we went to a restaurant/bar that had a volleyball pit, and after we ate, we all played volleyball. Later that night, we went back to the hotel, where four of us stayed in and the rest of the group went out dancing. I had a lot of fun playing tennis, but unfortunately, I did not win. All in all, it was a great experience and a lot of fun. Of course, the trip did not end without incident. When we got back to campus, I gave money to the driver and my credit card fell out of my wallet. I went inside and realized it was missing, and I called my mom. She said to retrace my steps, and luckily, I found it on the sidewalk in front of my dorm.

Also, in my freshman year I was fortunate enough to meet Perry Flynn. Perry helped me get connected with Special Olympics and Unified Sports. Through Unified Sports I helped and participated in basketball and football. I participated in Unified Sports my sophomore and junior years, and going into my senior year Perry offered me the position as club leader for Unified Sports. As the club leader, some of my responsibilities are getting the participants stretched out, advertising for Unified Sports, and making everyone feel like they are part of the group and valued. Another awesome opportunity that Perry gave me was to be the honorary team captain for the division three soccer championship that was being held at UNC Greensboro. I had the opportunity to go on the field, holding a soccer ball as they announced my name and fist-pumping with all of the players. Perry also hooked me up with two opportunities for internships. One of them was helping with horses and the other was helping out at a local coffee shop. He has definitely been a great support and mentor for me.

I’ve had a lot of great teachers during my four years, but a couple of them really become very important to me. In my freshman year, I met one of my teachers, Jessica Besaw. I instantly felt a bond with her. Shortly thereafter, I met Dr. Lalenja Harrington, who I call Dr. La. Both of these wonderful professors have been very influential in my life. They have both been there for me and encouraged me to follow my dreams. In the fall of my sophomore year, Jessica sent an email to everyone about the first TEDx Talks being held at UNC Greensboro. My first reaction was to close the email and I said no, but then I felt a strong urging from God that I needed to pursue it. I emailed Jessica that night and asked her if we could meet the next day. We met that day, and Jessica said that she didn’t think anyone would take the opportunity, but she was glad that I did. Jessica gave me her cell phone number and said if I have any questions, I could call her anytime. I went to the café and sat down, and I started writing my submission. When I finished, I emailed my submission in, and the next week they contacted me and said I had been selected to participate in TEDx. Over the next few months, I worked with Dr. La and Jessica on my speech and presentation. In the spring of my sophomore year, I participated in TEDx and won the night! Here is a link to the talk if you’re interested in seeing my presentation. After I did TEDx, Dr. La told me about an opportunity to speak at the annual ARC Convention for the state of Virginia. It was held at James Madison University, and I gave my talk there. Of course, my presentation wasn’t without incident because I fell off of the stage. In an effort to try and save another speaker as they were falling off the back of the stage, I went down as well! Overall it was an awesome experience, one that I will never forget!

In my sophomore year, I participated in a research project conducted by Lindsey Oaks. They asked me to be in a photograph with her that is on the UNC Greensboro website about her research project. I also applied for a scholarship in my sophomore year that I was awarded for the fall semester of my junior year.

In my junior year, I moved into an apartment with two of my friends that are in the Beyond Academics program. One of my roommates is my best friend Demarcus Mobley. He and I have been roommates since our freshman year, and we have done a lot of fun things together. I got an internship at Downtown Hownds working in a doggy day care.

My boss, Holly Anderson, is great to work for, and she has taught me a lot. My other big accomplishment in my junior year is I started a club for the Beyond Academics students called Beyond Awesome. I wanted the Beyond Academics students to have a place where we could get to know each other better and make friends. I planned a lot of fun activities; some of them were movie night, a scavenger hunt around campus, attending a basketball game together, board game night, and dodgeball.

I have also had a few crazy experiences over the past three years. The first and maybe one of the most memorable ones was the “counterfeit incident.” I was sitting down in the café having lunch, and this guy approached me and asked me if I had change for a twenty-dollar bill. I gave him two tens and he gave me a twenty. He left and five minutes later I saw him walking back in my direction with a police officer. I looked down at the twenty-dollar bill and I realized it was counterfeit. I went to the Beyond Academics office and told my support what had happened, and he went with me to the campus police office. We told the police officer what had happened, and he said yes that they had several calls about this man. He took me into the back to identify the man through a plexiglass window. I said that I wasn’t sure which one he was because I was afraid he could see me and then he would come after me. We then sat in an interrogation room for forty minutes waiting. After twenty minutes, my support needed to leave, and he said, “You’ll be fine,” and he left. The police officer asked me some questions, and then I was on my way; of course, I never did get my twenty dollars back.

And the last, but not least, of my crazy experiences involves riding public transportation. During group support, we practice a lot of different skills, one being riding public transportation. The first time I rode public transportation, a man asked me for money and scared the Scooby Doobie snacks out of me! The next time that I was supposed to ride the bus with my support group, I told my support that I didn’t like to ride the bus because every time I did something bad happened. There were four of us, and we all got on the bus and headed downtown toward the depot. When it was time to get off the bus, usually I check to see if my wallet is in my pocket, but this time for some reason I didn’t. After we got off the bus and started walking, I checked my pocket, and my phone was there but my wallet was gone. I was very sad, and I went running back to the bus to try to find my wallet. There were two people on the bus that said that they didn’t see my wallet and that they had just gotten on, so after looking on the bus I got off and I called my mom and said that I guess I need to cancel my card because I’ve lost my wallet again. We went to the authorities at the depot and filed a report, and then we all sat on chairs, and as a group we decided we would go home in an Uber since I didn’t have my Spartan card to be able to get back home on the bus. I was going to use my phone to call an Uber, but my phone was dead, so my support was going to use his phone to go on Uber, and his phone was dead.

The other three guys in the group didn’t have an Uber account on their phones. Luckily, my Beyond Academics support had brought a charger with him, and he charged his phone so that he could make the call. It was raining and freezing cold, and of course, the bright-eyed student that I am, I only had on shorts and a T-shirt, and I was freezing. We took an Uber home, and I’d like to say the story ended there, but it didn’t. My mom said that the student card center was still open, and I should take twenty dollars and go get a new Spartan card. I ran like a flash in the freezing cold rain to the card center, got my new card, and, voilà, my tragic day had ended! And now you know why I don’t like, nor will I ride, buses!

So now that brings me to my senior year and my plans for my future. My first love is writing and creating. I write poemsongs, which are poems with a meaning, set to music. I also write poems stories. My dream job would be to write meaningful poemsongs and stories that motivate and encourage people. I have developed a website where I post all of my work. Hopefully someday I will be able to make a living from my writing, but in the meantime, I really like working with other people with disabilities. Since I like sports so much, I would love to work with kids with disabilities in a sports setting.

In conclusion, I wouldn’t change anything in the past four years. I have had a great experience at UNC Greensboro, and I have learned a lot. I will miss college, but I am ready and excited to start the next chapter of my life. I wanted to end my chapter with a couple of my poemsongs. If you’re interested in reading more of my work, my website is https://www.beaconhillpoet.com.