Townsend Elementary School Recieves 1st Place Award in Everybody Can Contest.

Awards were presented to Nancy Gavett’s 5th grade class at Townsend Elementary school, Walton, NY on May 7th. The entire class won first place in the countywide “Everybody Can” contest in the literature category.

Each year, The Arc of Delaware County and Delta Kappa Gamma sponsor the “Everybody Can” contest to build awareness , understanding and acceptance of people with disabilities. On behalf of the class Nancy Gavett accepted a check in the amount of $100 and a Certificate of Excellence. Principal Mike Snider accepted a plaque recognizing Townsend Elementary School’s commitment to increasing understanding and acceptance of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and for creating “Ambassador’s of Change”. For more information about the 2014 Everybody Can Contest visit: Celebrating National Developmental Disability Awareness Month through Recognizing “Everybody Can”



Pictured in the photo is the 5th grade class and first row: (in purple) Barbara Thompson, The Arc of Delaware County and next to her is Nancy   Gavett, 5th grade teacher. On the far right, first row is Pam Thompson, Delta Kappa Gamma. Standing on the far right, back row is Mike Snider, Principal.

 

 

The Arc of Delaware County and SUNY Delhi Partnership Highlighted in Think College

The Arc of Delaware County has been working with "Think College" to highlight the strong relationship that has developed over the years between our agency and the State University at Delhi. Think College is a national organization dedicated to developing, expanding, and improving inclusive higher education options for people with intellectual disability. 

The story, A Shared Mission: Adult Agencies and Colleges Working Together to Support Lifelong Learning is told from the point of view of a faculty member, Dr. Amber Tatnall who has been a strong supporter of inclusive learning and taught several inclusive classes. In the story she reveals the depth and breadth of the relationship between SUNY Delhi and The Arc which has provided so much opportunity and enrichment for both college students and people with disabilities. 

We hope this story will provide insight and illustrate a successful partnership model so that other organizations will be inspired to reach out to institutions of learning in their communities and create their own opportunities for learning. To view the story: http://www.thinkcollege.net/images/stories/24_SUNYDelhi_ArcF.pdf

Bringing Baskets of Cheer

L to R: Maria Villacorta, Roseanna Starkweather, and Kelly Piskacek

On April 17th, an active group of 4 self advocates from Community Living Skills in Arkville brought joy and happiness to several residents of the Kirkside Home for Adults in Roxbury and Mountain Laurel Gardens in Arkville  Using Easter baskets donated to them by Dollar General, Kelly Piskacek, Roseanna Starkweather, Cathy Ippolito, and Maria Villacorta, filled them with candy and messages of friendship.

“These ladies like to celebrate holidays and always look for ways to brighten the holidays for others.” shared Heidi Friedman, Life Coach and mentor to the group. “Because we had the baskets the idea just naturally grew into this splendid event.”

The idea was “hatched” at a meeting in January. In making the decision to take on this project, Roseanna shared that she thought that the adult home residents would enjoy the candy and Maria said that it would make her happy to deliver the candy to the people.

For over 5 years these ladies have enjoyed a close connection with residents of Kirkside. They regularly participate in many activities together including bible study, bingo, attend sing-a-longs and luncheons. And with the ladies also attending bingo at Laurel Gardens, Kelly felt that their idea of making and delivering the baskets was “A great way to make new friends”.

After a full day of delivering over 35 baskets, the women happily reflected on their day. Cathy summed it by saying, “I’m sure that the folks we give the candy to will be happy to be remembered.”

To view more photos of these ladies making deliveries: Baskets of Cheer

Cathy Ippolito

“Third Time's A Charm"- A Story of Success through Perseverance"

L to R: Janet Stoop, Lisa Nichols, Amanda Green, Kayla Constable

“Third Time’s a Charm!” This is an old familiar saying but most people misinterpret it’s  meaning to believe  that if you repeat an action to achieve desired results,  odds will be that whatever you were trying to do or achieve will magically happen on at least the 3rd try. But what this quote is trying to convey is that by practice, perseverance, and never giving up you will achieve your goal- eventually! Don’t give up, keep on-keeping on!
 

A young lady, Amanda Green is a living example of success after perseverance. One of her longstanding goals was to obtain her General Education Diploma (GED). In the past 2 years she has really focused on her goal by attending Tuesday night classes held at Townsend Elementary School library and then by working 4 hours each day during the week with Kayla Constable, her primary Life Coach at The Arc of Delaware County. Twice she did not pass the exam. She was very disappointed and shared, “When I said I wanted to quit, Lisa Nichols (a lead Life Coach at The Arc) said “We don’t give up here, I don’t let my kids give up and I’m not letting you give up.” That was that, she turned her back and walked away and I started studying again.”
 

When asked what her hardest subjects were, “Quadratic equations!” she exclaimed. “But now I have them down pat.  Also, writing countless essays was hard too. I had thought I could write about whatever I wanted to and it was hard to write about something I was told to write about (a topic not of her choice).”
 

After taking the GED exam for the 3rd time, Amanda would occasionally log on to their website to see if the grades were posted. When she logged on Feb. 20th she saw a message that indicated “diploma sent”.  Stunned and unsure what the message really meant, she ran down the hall to show Janet Stoop, the Life Coach who had taken her  to her Tuesday night GED Classes. Janet confirmed to her that it was true, she passed!  Amanda shared that she burst into tears of happiness as did her mother when Amanda shared the good news with her.
 

When asked what she would say to others thinking about or currently working on their GED, she replied,” The hardest part is doing it every day, trying to schedule time to fit it in. It’s hard, but don’t give up! It is WORTH IT!”

With GED in hand,  Amanda has her sights set on accomplishing her dream of becoming a Teacher’s Aide.  With her determination and discipline there is no doubt that her dreams will become reality.

Celebrating National Developmental Disability Awareness Month through Recognizing “Everybody Can”

March is National Developmental Disability Awareness Month.  There is no time more fitting to celebrate all that local students have learned about developmental and other disabilities as a result of their participation in the “Everybody Can” contest hosted by The Arc of Delaware County  and Delta Kappa Gamma.

 “The goal of this contest is to raise awareness and understanding of intellectual and developmental disabilities and to instill acceptance of differences at a young age, very similar to the goals of National Developmental Disability Awareness Month but on a smaller scale”, “states Catherine Tweedie, Director of Community Relations at The Arc of Delaware County, “From the entries submitted, it was apparent that students had fun while learning about people and how they didn’t let disabilities stand in the way of their accomplishments!”

This year’s contest had a bit of twist, challenging students to research famous people who had disabilities and, through their project,  demonstrate their knowledge of the disability and the accomplishments of the famous person(s) they selected.  A variety of very creative submissions were received from Delaware County students in grades K-8 in the categories of art, media, and literature.

The Arc of Delaware County and Delta Kappa Gamma enjoyed reviewing all the entries, are pleased to announce the following winners of the 4th annual “Everybody Can” contest.

Countywide winners:

Art: Alexis Redden, Michaela Valkavich, 7th Graders from Andes Central School for their mobile that portrayed famous people who had a variety of disabilities including Down’s syndrome, being blind, deaf, or loss of the use of their limbs.  The artistic elements of the project included photos and short biographies which were incorporated into a mobile with an overall film/movie star motif.
Media: Haley Kosier, 5th Grader from South Kortright Central School for her PowerPoint, “Never Say Never” which highlighted the accomplishments of former president Franklin D. Roosevelt, Stevie Wonder, and Helen Keller.
Literature: Nancy Gavett’s 5th grade class from Townsend Elementary School in Walton compiled a book with photos and stories, which was illustrated with pictures of their artistic character interpretations portraying 21 famous people who through their researched, they learned each had some type of disability, including Einstein, David Beckham, Tom Cruise, Whoopi Goldberg and many others.

Honorable Mention:

Art: Joanna Grommeek, Jordan Finch, and Morgan Hungerford, from South Kortright Central School created a life-size poster about Bella Thorne and dyslexia.

Media: George Haynes and Gavyn Bryant from  South Kortright Central School created a PowerPoint entitled “Never Give Up”.

A  Teachers Choice Award selected for a uniquely creative book about baseball player James Anthony Abbott; this project was designed and produced by Joey Shafer, Joe Ploutz, Aydyn Tweedie from South Kortright Central School.

Participating schools are to be commended for their support of this contest and in creating “Ambassadors of Change” – students who appreciate the abilities of all people and embrace the belief that when given the opportunity, everybody can!

To view the winning entries, visit www.delarc.org and click on the news story, “Everybody Can- Goes Famous”.

Survival Skills and Outdoor Adventures with SUNY

SUNY Delhi has teamed once again with The Arc of Delaware County to provide wonderful programs linking people from The Arc with college students. 5 adventurous classes revolving around the themes of ecology and nature are being held February 12th through May 7th. Participants will learn many survival skills including those focused on winter which include building shelters and fires, and having fun snowshoeing. To view photos of this first adventure visit our Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/delarc/sets/72157641306559345/

Future classes will include learning how to make cordage (rope) from forest vegetation, tapping maple trees and collecting sap, making maple syrup, preparing the Butterfly Garden at the SUNY EDU Center for spring and working on survival skills involving food and water. At the last class to be held on May 7th they will have a survival activity day to test the skills they learned.  

 

A Winning Combination

Kevin (seated) is surrounded by Andes Central School PreK-1 students and Coach Adam VanValkenburgh and his assistant Janice Armstrong (standing behind Kevin).

For 3 years Kevin Allen, has enjoyed being a Volunteer Assistant Coach for the Pre-K through Kindergarten gym class at Andes Central School. “I love the kids!” he shared and is using this opportunity to develop his independence and become skilled at using praise to encourage others, both are personal goals of his.

At the beginning of each class Kevin places markers for where children should stand. Then the children, ready for “warm up”, follow Kevin’s lead as he guides them through a series of exercises that he has selected and practiced at home. Kevin enthusiastically encourages the children if they have difficulty with an activity exclaiming, “You can do it!”

“Kevin is just phenomenal. He is always up for new challenges, willing to try new things and be involved” stated Coach VanValkenburgh. “This class is focused on what you can do instead of what you can’t.”   

To view more photos of Kevin and the Andes Central School gym class: http://www.flickr.com/photos/delarc/sets/72157640594216084/