congratulations, krista.

admin note
I’d like to on behalf of the entire administration team congratulate this author on a well written paper, the 91% was well earned. keep up the great work. It’s nice to see you succeeding in school. your positive attitude towards school ever since leaving fitchburg state university is a large turn around from where you were just over 4 month’s ago. Again, congratulations.
Here’s the paper that earned that 91%.
Again, Congratulations.

Krista Pennell
Learner Autobiography
I feel like I’ve been in school forever. I started with early intervention when I was a toddler because as a child with a disability, I was missing out on a lot of opportunities to acquire new skills and experience new things. Even on the days I wasn’t in school, I was being educated.
I had a babysitter who used to set me up for causing particularly typical toddler messes. Once, I remember a day where she protected my clothes with a garbage bag, sat me on her kitchen sink, and filled the sink with water and watch me go nuts. I distinctly remember my grandmother having a fit! The babysitter, a family friend, responded with, “Carol, she’s gotta be able to play and make a mess sometime. Might as well let her do it with supervision.”
I was placed in preschool at the McKay Campus School in Fitchburg. There, I was taught Braille at the age of 3. My local school district had no idea what to do with a blind child, but they thought they could accept me once I entered kindergarten, and they did. Everything went well there until I entered middle school. That’s when a slow decline began, because my blindness related skills were so poor that my academics suffered. I didn’t know the entire Nemeth Braille code for mathematics, so I was failing math and science. Teachers were giving me A’s because they felt bad for me. I became depressed because I felt school was hopeless and I was going to graduate without actually having earned a diploma.
My mother had always been opposed to sending me to a school for the blind, but finally when I was 16, I managed to convince the rest of my family, who helped me to convince her, that it would be the best thing for me, and it was. I got to do sports, have a social life, have friends, and a life outside of school, and my first quarter there, they sent my report card home in the mail and I earned all A’s. My mother actually cried. I spent three and a half years there, during which time I began to think of college as a real possibility. Before, it had seemed so far off, and I thought, “How can I handle college if I can’t even handle high school?” the day I received my acceptance letter to Fitchburg State university was life-changing. I was really going. I had made the choice, I was going, I was going to live in a dorm, basically on my own, and go to school, and I was going to be independent. Perkins had taught me everything I needed to know about dealing with college and disability services, right?
No, they didn’t. They taught me how to deal with a disability services office that was willing to work with their students. When I got to Fitchburg State, I realized that new staff had taken over, and it seemed like noone had a clue what they were doing. My books were either in horrible quality audio, or inaccessible pdf format, I was stuck in a class that required you to be able to identify pieces of art, and during my 3 year time there, things only got worse.
I hit rock bottom and stopped caring during the beginning of my last semester. I felt like I was wasting my time there and even attempting to be educated by that institution was hopeless. I knew I had to make a change or go insane, so I applied to MWCC. I had heard disability services were phenomenal, and when I’d only heard good things from a friend of mine, I filled out the online application and I waited. To my surprise, given my university issues, I was accepted. I was thrilled. I had a chance to succeed, and prove that I could survive in a college environment. I was able to take a lab science, something I was told repeatedly over the last 3 years that I couldn’t do. All my materials are provided to me in an accessible format, and I don’t have to fight for them. I don’t have to wonder if I’m going to get an assignment done on time because I don’t have the materials 3 days before it’s due.
I never saw myself as a college student, truly, until I came here. I was always fighting to catch up with the other students, and here, I don’t have to do that. My family have reacted positively to my change in attitude about school, and my grades so far have proven to me that I can be a good student. I never thought I could before. Most of my college career was spent fighting for access. That’s no longer an obstacle.
Graduation day is something I haven’t yet thought of. I know when I get there I’ll feel an almost overwhelming sense of relief, but also nervousness. I know my immediate family will be there. I’m not sure what I’m going to major in yet, but a degree will allow me to obtain a job, and hopefully I’ll gain skills along the way that assist me in whatever I choose to do. Frankly, I’m not sure what dreams it will allow me to achieve, but I want a job, I want to live on my own, and to function independently.

3 thoughts on “congratulations, krista.”

  1. this paper’s really not that awesome… I did it while lying in a patch of sunlight, stretched out like a cat at my grandmother’s place. And a small note to everyone, including the professor whose class I wrote this for, no, really, I shouldn’t write a book. A book might be kind of a bad idea. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  2. Firstly I’d like to say, that paper is excelent, Krista.
    I’ve just started community college here in San Antonio. While I’d say I’m pretty motivated to do things right in school, now at least, I’d also say I wasn’t too motivated in high school. To make a long story short, I slacked off near the end of high school, I was in it just to graduate and did not care too much about my future. I took a break from education, during which time I went to CCRC, a blindness center in a neighboring city. I’d say it falls into the same category as the Colorado center, if you know what that is.
    During my time at the center, I changed. I realized that I wasn’t going to get through life just doing nothing and blowing everything off because I was bored with it.
    So, I applyed to the University of Texas. Unfortunately my grades failed to meet requirements. However I wouldn’t let that bring me down and cause me to waste another six months. So I went and applyed to NVC, however it was probably almost too late, got accepted, and got registered for classes the day before the deadline. I’ve been in college since January, and I’d say that everything’s working fine access-wise over here. I just have to put in the effort myself and get the work done. I’ve almost decided on a major of computer science, however that could very well change to Music or something similar. Really not positive at this time, but I know I’ll graduate soon enough!
    Well, done for now. Best of luck to you in college. From what that paper states, I know you’ll have a good time at the school you’re in now. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply

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