[WinthropLIFE] students live in residence halls. What about apartments off campus? They can work on campus. Why not off campus?”


Morrison also encourages people to ask questions and to engage with WinthropLIFE students when they see them around campus.


WinthropLIFE TEACHES INDEPENDENT LIVING FOR SPECIAL NEEDS


For Alex Velasco, a regular day at Winthrop can include working a shift in Eagle Eatery, attending his weight-training class, watching a basketball or volleyball game and spending time with friends. In other words, he’s like any student, with one distinction: Velasco is part of the WinthropLIFE program.


“I like coming here. It’s really cool,” Velasco said.


WinthropLIFE offers postsecondary education opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities, building and strengthening participating students’ skills in employment, self-determination, health and nutrition, social networking and independent living.


Now what? Once students with intellectual disabilities graduate high school, the logical next question is often what to do next. Interested families can apply to WinthropLIFE, and once accepted, sit down with Ryan Morrison ’13, program director, to set realistic, but ambitious, goals for their next four years as Winthrop Eagles. Students take one physical education course each semester in addition to one to three other courses. They also have the opportunity to participate in Commencement and earn a letter of completion.


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“Anything that really happens as a young person matures is independent life,” Morrison explained. “The other side is employability. We want to teach our students how to find jobs — job skills, interview skills, etc.”


He specifically strives for another goal of the program: to help students “develop into independent, contributing members of their communities.”


“We added the ‘contributing member of my community’ when we also added the volunteer piece,” he said. “We don’t want for it to just be money. It’s not just about jobs or salaries. If you’re coaching Little League, if you’re volunteering at your church, whatever you’re doing, if that was your goal and you worked and achieved that, that’s as worthy a goal as making a million dollars.”


Possibilities are endless In addition to expanding the program from two years to four years, Morrison believes the possibilities for more expansion are “endless.”


“We want to grow, and that’s one of the exciting parts to me, wondering ‘Can we build this thing the way we envision it?’” he said. “For example,


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“We want to let people know: they’re university students first, WinthropLIFE students second,” he said. “We have students in fraternities, on the cheer team, on the Council of Student Leaders... Be comfortable asking questions such as ‘I see you have on a WinthropLIFE shirt. What does that mean?’”


Fellow Winthrop students serve as peer mentors for Win- thropLIFE, helping the program’s students with academics, social activities, transportation, residential living, life skills and much more. “Our program would not exist without peer mentors,” Morrison said.


“He [my peer mentor] takes me to cool movies sometimes on weekends, like ‘The Amazing Spider-Man.’ Oh yeah!” Velasco said of his exceptional peer mentor.


Quincy Sloan serves as one of those peer mentors.


“They’re seeing people just like them – Winthrop students – navigating the college experience, and they feel less alone,” said Sloan, a psychology major from Blythewood. “We teach different career-building skills, like time management. The parents give us different goals that they have for each student, and we as academic mentors help them reach their goals.”


“We’re not just helping students get through college,” he continued. “We’re helping them become independent successful members of society.”


About Ryan Morrison


Due to his love of cowboy movies and horses, Morri- son originally worked as a horse trainer.


But one day, he felt called to change careers.


“It came out of the blue,” he said. “I felt then, and feel to this day, that God wanted me to do this.”


He earned a special education degree from Winthrop in 2013.


Barradale Gift


Cam and Katie Barradale, found- ers of the Cooper Royall Foun- dation, have made a financial commitment to the WinthropLIFE program. Named after one of their sons, the Cooper Royall Foundation aims to enhance the offerings available to special needs families throughout the various stages of life.


This gift and the support of other donors ensure a bright future for the WinthropLIFE program.


For more information on how to give to the program, visit www.winthrop.edu/give or call 803/323-2275.

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