Successful people are successful because they ask for help and use resources according to their needs, said Mary Hamlin, transition coordinator for Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.
The 16th Annual Transition Event was a one-stop shop for 150 Bartholomew County juniors and seniors to ask for help and connect with adult services, post-secondary education and career providers, and learn how to effectively use their resources according to their needs.
Every year, juniors and seniors with disabilities from Bartholomew County-area high schools are invited to spend a day at the Columbus Learning Center where they can participate in a variety of helpful informational sessions, apply for jobs at local businesses, learn how to vote and hear from a motivational speaker about a topic that applies to their lives.
“Our goal is to empower students as they’re making decisions of what to do after high school,” Hamlin said. “When you’re in a public education setting or with your family, the adults take care of you. It’s important to help our students understand what other resources are out there so they can start advocating for themselves.”
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Students from Columbus East, Columbus North, Columbus Signature Academy — New Tech and Hauser Jr./Sr. high schools attended the day-long event, packed with informative sessions meant to guide them toward a successful future.
BCSC offers a program called Transition Planning, which helps identify students with special needs’ strengths, preferences, interests and needed supports to ultimately assist and connect them with employment, community experiences, daily living skills and instruction, among other things.
The Transition Event takes the program a step further, offering all these services in a quick, easy fashion for hundreds of students across the county.
Larry Perkinson, student assistance coordinator at BCSC, led a session titled, “You Didn’t Come This Far Just to Come This Far.” For 25 minutes, Perkinson shared stories of times he had to remind himself to keep pushing forward.
Perkinson offered three main ideas to reflect on during his session:
Believe that someone cares.
Believe that you are here for a purpose.
Believe that you can weather the storms.
“This is one of my favorite days,” Perkinson said. “I want to have a good time, but I also want to cover that life’s hard. To see the faces on these young people as they nod because they understand life’s tough and they laugh when they know it’s fun, too — these kids get it. It’s a great conversation, and what I see at this event every year is young people who have great hope in tomorrow.”
Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps and Sherri Lentz, supervisor of voter registration and elections, brought in a voting booth to prepare students for what to expect when they go to vote for the first time.
They also handed out voter registration forms for students who are 18 years old or will turn 18 before the November 2020 election.
Other sessions included one led by Brenny Kumer, BCSC coordinator of instructional technology, about the do’s and don’ts of job searching and how a person’s Internet presence could affect employment opportunities, and another session on what life in college is like, presented by an Ivy Tech student panel.
After the breakout sessions, students heard from professional wheelchair bodybuilder Nick Scott. Scott’s life changed forever when he was in a near-fatal traffic accident at age 16. He became a paraplegic and was discouraged about his “new normal.”
Scott turned the debilitating tragedy into a triumph, and he now shares his story around the world as a motivational speaker.
“My goal is to show students everyone has an obstacle to overcome, and it’s important we identify what our strengths and weaknesses are and that we use our resources at our own true grit to be the best person we can be,” Hamlin said.
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The Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. Transition Planning program helps identify students with special needs’ strengths, preferences, interests and needed supports to ultimately assist and connect them with employment, community experiences, daily living skills and instruction among other things.
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