Helping students with disabilities transition smoothly from high school into college was the goal of EC’s first ever  “Navigating the Path to Success Summer Bridge Program,” that took place Aug. 14-16 on the EC campus, Dipte Patel, program director said.

“Transition is a big issue for us,” Patel said. “Particularly because there’s a lot of changes between high school and college and most students (with disabilities) move from one to the other without realizing how different it is.”

Twenty hand-picked freshman students participated in the “Summer Bridge” program, spending three 4-hour days exploring the EC campus, attending presentations aimed to boost their academic success, learning about themselves, and learning how to get help when they need it, Patel said.

Patel said that in high school,  students with disabilities have plans developed for them and teachers automatically give the necessary accommodations to students. In college that changes and students are responsible for asking for what they need,” Patel said.

“We want to teach them to develop a voice and be their own self advocate,” Patel said.

Training included helping students identify their personal learning styles and giving them the tools to flourish academically, Patel said.

“It taught me a lot about how to focus in college,” Jonathan Butler, 18, office management major, said after sharing that he had ADHD. “I learned that I can be a hands on and visual learner,” he added.

The program also highlighted the roll technology could play in achieving educational success.

Educational technology has the ability to “open up the world” to special needs students, Brian Krause, Special Resource Center program coordinator, said after his presentation explaining technological tools EC offered and how to harness their potential.

Krause said that the “Summer Bridge” program was also about energizing special needs students who had bad experiences in K-12 schooling.

“If a student is ready this is going to jump start them,” Krause said.

The “Summer Bridge” program came to a close with a presentation on creating an academic success plan by setting specific goals and implementing strategies to achieve them, delivered by Tisa Casas, human development and Special Resource Center instructor.

“Our purpose is to really prepare them for academic success,” Casas said.

Patel said that the first time program, funded by a state Career Technical Education Grant, had been a great success and would most likely continue next year.

The programs success was due to the hard work of teachers and student volunteers as well as the dedication and perseverance of the student participants, Patel said.

“It [Summer Bridge Program] reminds us that it [college] is tough but it’s something we’ll be able to take on,” Sean Alford, 19, digital animation major said.