Throughout
high school, I worked with nonprofit that paired teens in the program with
children with disabilities, who we call buddies, for a year-long (or sometime
two-year-long) journey together through adventure and the arts. From my three
buddies — Matthew, Thomas, and Max — I truly learned that people are people are
people and that everyone is deserving of love and belonging. I learned that a
disability does not equal a lack of ability, but that sometimes it required a
different route to get there.
 |
| Caleb Bartholomew |
When I
was chosen to work with New Voices this semester I was super excited! But, if I
am being honest, I was quite nervous. I did not know much about the children
who New Voices served because I these were children that I had never worked
with before. While my buddies from high school did have disabilities, they were
not severely affected in speech or mobility; when we would hang out, it was
easy to run around and communicate with each other. I wasn’t necessarily sure
of how I was going to talk about my internship with other people when they
asked me.
On day
one, Sandy, the executive director, gave my partner and I homework. She handed
us the resources we needed to learn about New Voices, the work it does, and the
children that they serve. At our next meeting, we were to be able to give an
entire elevator speech for the organization.
So, I did my homework. At our second meeting, Sandy, Meredith, and I met
in the lobby of Kay’s, Sandy’s daughter, apartment complex where she just came
up in conversation. Meredith had met her, but I hadn’t. I learned about how Kay
was graduating from NC State in December with multiple degrees and with honors,
something that I plan and hope to be able to do. I thought to myself about how
challenging a feat that is for everyone, let alone someone like Kay, and how
amazing that is. I thought to myself about what NC State and all the
communities has and will interact with would have lost if Kay’s potential had
not been realized.
While
planning our Scrabble Tournament Fundraiser and sitting in on board meetings
and strategic planning sessions, I really saw the passion that each of those
who work with New Voices has for these children. The staff and the board worked
tirelessly to ensure that the opportunity for and right to an education that
works for New Voices children was present in the public school system because
they understand this unrealized potential that I, myself, did not fully
understand until recently.
I
(finally) got to meet Kay and other people who work and interact with New
Voices at our Scrabble Tournament! Again, I was really nervous about how I was
going to go about what should I say, how should I stand, what do I do, but
talking to them was really easy. Kay and I had the same small talk that I have
with just about anyone else that I meet on campus — what’s your major, do you
like this professor, when do you graduate — and it was just cool! She did test
me on elevator speech, though, which I can say I think I did a pretty good job.
It was interesting to me to see myself learn what I had “already” learned
again, how people are people are people, how we all deserve love and belonging
(and access to an education that works for us), and how disability does not
equal a lack of ability, but that sometimes it requires a different route to
get there.
I am incredibly grateful to have
been able to work with New Voices this semester. The staff and board are
extremely dedicated to what they do, and it is inspiring! I am excited to live
in a world where there are those who are working to create a better and more
inclusive education system that works for everyone because without them and
without New Voices children, we would all be missing out.
