Could just one weekend confirm a career choice? Early data indicates it can for those UA students, mostly education majors, who volunteer as counselors at Camp ASCCA the Alabama Special Camp for Children and Adults in Jacksons Gap, Ala.
For the past two years, students majoring in interdisciplinary teacher education (formerly known as special education) and other education majors have been volunteering each fall and spring semester for at least one weekend of duty at Camp ASCCA, an Easter Seals facility for children and adults who have disabilities ranging from spina bifida, multiple sclerosis, paraplegia, and quadriplegia to Down’s syndrome, autism, and mild, moderate and profound mental disabilities.
“I started collecting data because I wanted to know why these students choose this experience so I would have a better understanding of how this impacts them,” said Dr. Tamar Riley, UA assistant professor of interdisciplinary teacher education and supervisor of the Camp ASCCA volunteers.
Riley says even though students choose the camp experience for reasons varying from wanting a quick practicum experience to altruistic reasons, the overall results are the same: a powerful learning experience. “For many of the ones already in interdisciplinary teacher education, the experience just confirmed that they knew this is what they wanted to do with their careers,” Riley said.
The other students just want to be able to know if they can work with people with disabilities, Riley pointed out. “These students come back saying, ‘I can’t do this full time, but I do now know I’m able and willing to do it’ and that’s a powerful, powerful statement,” she said. “But to me, the biggest benefit of this is that students — even though they realized special education wasn’t for them — they’re much more open to inclusive environments.”
Riley said the data also shows a realization from the students about life-long learning. “(Before this experience), these students didn’t think beyond the children they’ll teach as becoming adults. They only think of them as elementary or high school kids,” she said.
“So one of the biggest realizations my students are starting to understand is that what they do with children at 8 years old has a tremendous impact on what happens at age 50,” she added.