While the season of college application submissions has just passed, the Campo community has not focused on an area where they are still a current topic: the Special Education Department.
The Special Education Department has recently begun what they call “College Awareness Month,” a period where students get the chance to explore the college admissions process for their unique situations. Natalie Goepel, one of the Learning Skills teachers, is currently the only teacher actively promoting it with her students: “I teach a mix of grades, but for many of them they are only just starting to think about college now that they are selecting classes for next year. Other skills teachers have done this earlier in the year.”
Ms. Goepel, when prompted, expressed how strongly she feels that students in Special Education need college awareness due to their different educational needs compared to the average student. Junior Angelina Lomeli, one of Ms. Goepel’s students, agreed with this claim and stated, “being in Special Education means more stress, because you don’t have the same opportunities as people who aren’t in Special Education and who have the opportunity to navigate what they want to do.” These opportunities, while offered to every individual in the student body at Campo, were not discussed in great detail for students in Special Education.
“I think it’s important that we don’t rush ourselves to apply to a big college, and that we take the steps we need to in order to relate to our school life,” Lomeli added upon breaking down the importance of College Awareness Month to her. Ms. Goepel’s assistance in researching colleges, Lomeli speculated, has been crucial to her thinking about the benefits of two-year versus four-year colleges; a decision she had not questioned until the college awareness unit.
This has been Ms. Goepel’s goal from the start of the unit, as noted when she said, “I love working with students and teaching them how to be more effective learners. They seem to be more engaged and asking more questions about colleges compared to our previous units.” Her explanation in how surprised her students have been upon learning about the pros of community colleges and the expenses of four-year universities have, therefore, revealed how students in Special Education have received little to no access to such information.
Senior Burl Hall III offered his opinions on the unit as well. “I think everyone should be able to go through college awareness like we are. I have a lot of questions that I don’t feel comfortable asking sometimes because I feel like I should know, but the class can ask questions judgment free,” he said. With the continuance of College Awareness Month for the Special Education department, students have felt more inspired and excited to learn about the process, finding it useful to begin figuring out where their unique paths can take them after high school.
