According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, for people with disabilities “employment means greater economic self-sufficiency, an opportunity to use their skills and more active participation in community life.” Kent State University’s Career and Community Studies (CCS) program exists to provide a college experience that can benefit students with intellectual and developmental disabilities as effectively as possible.
CCS has partnered with the Bursar’s Office to provide opportunities for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities to develop professional skills and help them transition into the workforce.
As a college-based, transition, non-degree program, CCS prepares students for adult life through academic pursuits, peer socialization, and career discovery and preparation. The program is for students who have completed high school requirements and are at least 18 years of age.
Ellie McGregor, a fourth-year student currently in her final semester in the CCS program, has found great successes and made solid contributions in the office while honing her business skills. She is an example of what this program can do for students.
In her role at the Bursar’s Office, McGregor conducts data entry, alphabetization and file pulling. The opportunity to do this type of work makes a difference for those enrolled in CCS, and McGregor shared how that applies to her.
“For me, going to college has really helped me with being more independent, and it prepares me to live on my own one day,” McGregor said.
McGregor has an interest in business and would like to use it to open a clothing or toy store of her own. By working through other positions in the CCS program, McGregor has worked up to a more business-oriented position.
“I’ve worked at several places,” McGregor said when asked about her past jobs with CCS. “I worked at the recreation center, campus kitchen and now the Bursar’s Office.”
Each student enrolled in the CCS program is partnered with a student job coach to show them the ropes and help them get acclimated to the professional environment they are working in.
McGregor’s job coach is Rebecca Haywood, an emerging media and technology major with minors in user experience design, autism spectrum disorders and photography.
“Through the CCS classes geared toward learning how to have a job, be professional and have a career, she has transferred those skills from what she’s learned in class into the workplace,” Haywood said in reference to McGregor.
The relationship between the job coach and the CCS student is important to keep professional. Haywood explained how it must be balanced and that it has been successful in her time working in the Bursar's Office with McGregor.
“Part of the rules of CCS is that you have to be professional with your students,” Haywood said. “As much as you want to just be friends with them, you do have to be professional and keep that instructor role as well. Independence is achieved by providing support, letting the individual figure out stuff on their own and not doing it for them.”
The work Haywood does is to help the students continuously improve their skills with the goal of reaching a point of independence.
The job coach position can vary in nature, and it can seem hard to only work with the students for a set time, but the coaches go into it with that in mind.
“One of CCS’s mottos is ‘work yourself out of a job,’ meaning that the job coaches start off providing as much support as the student needs and then slowly let them gain independence until hopefully they are able to become fully independent,” Haywood said.
The CCS program has a two-year program for college readiness, a two-year program for employment-readiness and a four-year option in which students get to learn even more about themselves and then complete an internship after their sophomore year.
The internships include work experiences at varying levels and locations around Kent State.
“I find those connections,” said Jennifer Miller, a lecturer in the CCS program who helps find employment opportunities for the students. “The student might have an interest in business in this case, but students have interests in nursing or childcare, so I am scouring the campus and community for opportunities to open doors for students.”
On top of the passionate staff within CCS, the Bursar’s Office has provided a welcoming work environment for the students in CCS.
“All of the students that I’ve worked with directly have really made an impact on our office,” said Samantha Ittel, manager of student accounts in the Bursar’s Office. “By helping us even if we got behind, they were more than happy to jump in and help and they did a great job with everything that we asked them to do.”
Alison Murphy, manager of the collections department and McGregor’s supervisor, also shared her perspective from working with McGregor in the office.
“I really like having the opportunity to work with the students in the program,” Murphy said. “Working with Ellie, that’s always a high point for me.”
“Ellie has really blossomed into her position at the office,” Ittel said. “Like with any employee, you start out a little reserved, but now she is super independent and comes in to tackle her work with a ‘good morning’ every morning.”
For more information about Kent State’s Career and Community Studies program, visit www.kent.edu/ehhs/ccs.