Full Year of College

My Scholars with Diverse Abilities Program (SDAP) experience was good. My friend Reid and I met Germaine, Robert, and Mara in our first year. We took Dr. Cummings’s class in the morning, and my friends and I learned about independence and sex education. Before the class started, Dr. Cummings would do a meditation to help get our frustration out.

Back to sex education, one half of my brain said, “Luke, I’m out of here. I’m afraid someone might hurt you.” But the other half of my brain said, “Luke, hold on, sex could help relieve muscle spasms. Believe me. Do you think that someone would hurt you? Um, yeah, no.” I learned how sex can help to make babies. I learned what kind of love you have for a friend. Then the love gets a little stronger. Boyfriend and girlfriend alert. Holding hands. After that, it gets romantic. Buy something for them. I researched how to have sex in a wheelchair.

I went to Creative Writing in the morning with Addie, my friend and peer helper. I wrote stories and shared them with my classmates by hitting the speak button on my computer Tobii Dynavox, or TD for short. Mrs. Wineberger, my writing professor, had me and my classmates read WordPad prompts to write a story about everything each Tuesday and Thursday morning. Then we had to add fiction to our real stories a second time to get our imaginations to run wild. My classmates and I had to read short stories to get our writing even more creative, like how to describe what I am doing in my real story.

My friends and I took Beyond Normal in the afternoon, and I liked it. We summarized One Amazing Thing. My friends and I learned about disabilities. We had schoolwork to do, but we had Mary and Michael, my dear friends who are tutors, to help.

Then my friends and I talked about Coffee Talk. We cooked food on Thursday for the big day. At Coffee Talk, we had different roles on the second Friday of every month. I liked being a pep-talker because I gave my speech to my classmates. I said, “Hey everybody! It is Coffee Talk time. Remember class, don’t forget to wash your hands before you serve the food. Remember class, don’t eat the food. 1, 2, 3! Go Coffee Talk team! Woo-hoo!” After my speech, I was rolling all over the place at the College of Education building, trying to do my jobs like a chicken running around. Boy, I love it!

In my friends’ and my second year, my friends and I met Clay, Nick, Daniel, Allen, Emma, and Elizabeth. We became friends with them. I will keep up with my friends, except for Germaine, Robert, Nick, and Daniel, because my friends don’t keep up with me because they are too busy with their jobs or move away before school is out.

So, after I graduated from the Scholars with Diverse Abilities Program, I came back to Coffee Talk to see my friends. They were shocked. Clay said, “Hey, Luke!” I have good conversations with him. He always talked to me about girls. Back to Coffee Talk, first I didn’t help like I did when I was at college. But I talked to new customers though.

Mary and Addie, my dear friends whom I’d like to call “sisters” because they act as sisters to me, and I went to the Appalachian State versus Coastal Carolina game on October 6, 2017. My “sisters” and I watched Appalachian State slaughter Coastal Carolina badly. I said, “Well, let’s leave,” in my brain. During the slaughter, Reid, Mara, Germaine, and Robert came by to see me. Mary fed me popcorn, then Addie fed me her ice cream because I was eyeing her ice cream. She said, “Here. You can have it. You are spoiled. Do you know that?” I laughed. After Appalachian State scored points in the fourth quarter, we left because we didn’t want to see the game.

My friends and I took Dr. Cummings’s class again. We learned about mailing and how to send mail to our parents when we are living far away. My friends wrote a letter to their parents, but I wrote a letter to my uncle and my aunt. I enjoyed it. My friends and I learned about alcohol. My brain said, “Um, I don’t know about it.”

I had some help to get my schoolwork done with Cori, a tutor whom I’d like to call “sister” because she acts like a sister to me, too. Boy, we got my schoolwork done before I went home. It was like . . . okay, here is schoolwork. Here is Cori. Here is me. Two on one handicap match. I fought my schoolwork, then I tagged Cori in. She fought my schoolwork for me, then Cori tagged me in. I put a final nail in the coffin on my schoolwork.

College was hard for me to move physically. Most of the people were doing this: separate, go around me, then come back together. The students didn’t let me go, and I was frustrated. I said, “Can you move out of my way, please?” in my brain. But they let me go, and I said, “Thank you. Finally!” in my mind.

My classmates and I learned how to vote. It was cool because we voted for the first time. We learned about which candidates were doing right for the town of Boone, the state house, etc., to vote. My classmates and I did a presentation about which candidate will do the right thing for North Carolina, too.

My favorite classes were Interpersonal Communication and Intercultural Communication with Dr. Chris Patti. In Interpersonal Communication, I loved being in his class because my smile lit up the room. Then people started to smile. Dr. Patti told a story to the class, then I laughed. After I laughed, so did my classmates. Dr. Chris Patti told me, “Whatever you had on your mind, please tell us?” So, I told whatever I had in my mind.

In Intercultural Communication, Dr. Patti told me the same thing. My classmates and I saw Mr. Patti’s haircut. I was the first person to say, “Hey, Dr. Patti! Nice beard!” My classmates were shocked. Their facial expressions were like . . . Uh? Do you know him? Then Dr. Patti said, “Thank you, Luke!” to me. He told my classmates about me. They understood. We have been friends since then. I mean lifelong friends. We have continued to talk by email to each other ever since I graduated.

I met new friends at SDAP, and we talked during social time. After my friends and I graduated, we texted each other because I wanted to have lifelong friends, which became my friends forever after college. They are really close to me making them my family.

It was wonderful to go to college to learn and make lifelong friends with my tutors, my peer helper, and my professors.