Bridge to Independence program promotes campus inclusion

Nicholls State University’s Bridge to Independence Program is providing students with special needs the ability to have a full college experience and promotes a more inclusive campus community.

Sean Adams, a student of the Bridge to Independence program, is an example of the campus embracement of diversity. He has recently been sworn in the legislative branch of the Student Government Association.

“ I love bridge, because it’s like a big family,” Adams said. “We joke around together. We laugh together. I mean, when we mean business, we mean business and do our work. But it’s like we are all sisters and brothers in the classroom.”

The Bridge to Independence Program offers students with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) access to quality higher education and aid for the development of social skills needed to start their future careers.

“Bridge is a place which helps you be independent and gives you the chance to live in dorms on campus,” Quentin Mouton, a student enrolled in the program, said. “We do things like independent goals and emotional goals and it really helps us out a lot.”

Nicholls became Louisiana’s first and only college to offer courses and internships to special needs students after the program debuted. Bridge to Independence currently has ten students enrolled and the program is expecting to welcome five more in the fall.

Robin Bell, the previous director of disabilities services, and Mary Breaud, the program’s advisor, wrote an application requesting a certified Comprehensive Transition Program through the United States Department of Education in order to bring the program to campus in 2015.

Although the program also seeks scholarships to help their students to cover the cost of a college education, Breaud explained that Bridge to Independence is a tuition-based program.

“There is not a grant we get money from,” Breaud said. “Parents pay tuition, fees, housing, meal tickets and a Bridge fee on top of that.”

Starting next semester, Upside Downs Non-Profit Foundation, a local Down syndrome organization, will be sponsoring a scholarship for students with intellectual disability.

According to Breaud, the program took a year to be approved and students began to attend classes during last fall. Last semester, the students took Speech 101, University Prep and Human Performance classes. This semester these students are enrolled in Human Sexuality and Art Appreciation.

The Bridge to Independence Program provides two different educational paths based on the needs of the students of each type of disorder.

ASD students are offered a traditional University Degree program. These students are required to take the ACT and must first be admitted to Nicholls before entering the program. They are allowed to take courses within their degrees’ curriculum and will receive academic monitoring, coordination of services and supported advising.

Students with ID are offered a two-year certificate program. These students are required to have a high school diploma or equivalent certification, a specific IQ range and practical reading and writing skills. ID students can take courses for audit, electives and are required to have an on-campus unpaid internship related to their interest for their second, third and fourth semesters.

The program has one student interning in the culinary building, one as an assistant DJ for campus radio station KNSU, another student working at the Recreation Center and two students working in the Colonel Academy.

Breaud said, “The skills they’ve learned from their internships can be added onto the resume we build [together] in order for them to get jobs.”

Both programs offer peer mentors, reserved residential options and social skill seminars. The students are also encouraged to join organizations on campus.

The students in the program have a classroom in Polk Hall where they can have social gatherings and get tutored.

Tara Martin, the director of the program, said, “Every week they have to come in to set certain goals for themselves. On Fridays, we sit down together to score them so they can see how they’ve done from the last week.”

To promote socialization among the students, Martin hosts social nights every Thursday in Scholars or Millet dorms from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“One of our biggest focuses is for the students to learn social skills and make friends, so any students on campus are welcome to join,” Breaud said.

The program has hired student workers in its staff, but it is always looking for more student volunteers to interact with the students.

“The volunteers can either mentor or tutor our students,” Breaud said. “They can take the students to the cafeteria, baseball games or whatever,” Martin said. “If any student is interested in being a volunteer, they can email me at [email protected].”

The Bridge of Independence Program is hosting a seminar on April 26 at 6 p.m. in Nicholls’ Recreation Center to provide information about the program to parents or guardians of special needs students.