Contact: Public Relations
(863) 680-4118

FSC Exceptional Student Education
Transition Program holds field day
Education department plans games, relay races, volleyball
and basketball for special education students

LAKELAND, Fla. (March 13, 2002) - Florida Southern College's education department will host a field day on March 21 for its Exceptional Student Education (ESE) class. The event will be held between 10:30 a.m. and 1:40 p.m. with a one-hour break at 11:30. Faculty and staff members will join ESE teacher Charlene Schultz and special education students for basketball from 10:30 - 11:30 at the Wellness Center gym, and relay races/volleyball from 12:30 - 1:40 at the Jenkins Field House.

The program is a collaborative effort by the FSC education department and the ESE department of the Polk County School Board to assist mentally handicapped high school students aged 18 to 21 in their transition from school to the working world. Approximately 75 percent of these students face unemployment when they leave the public school system. This program, the only one of its kind in Polk County, frees older ESE students from the high school environment and allows them to pursue more adult experiences.

The college furnishes a classroom for the ESE teacher and students and provides job training opportunities in other departments on campus such as maintenance, food service, and landscaping. In return, the school board provides the students, teacher, support personnel and transportation.

The class includes five ESE students, Schultz, and two paraprofessional aides. The students work on campus in the mornings and attend the transition class in the afternoons. Special education majors work with the students, developing and practicing social skills games together. The ESE students have participated in a games and sports class, where physical education majors had an opportunity to try out their games with the ESE students. The transition class may help some FSC students decide which field of education to major in, said Dr. Kathleen Milburn, assistant professor of education and coordinator of the project. "After seeing and working with the kids, some of our students may go into special education. You can't be around these kids and not feel touched by them."

The transition program was developed by a diverse group representing the college; the Polk County school system; and Noah's Ark, an organization of parents of mentally disabled children. The group believes the interaction with young adults along with the job training opportunities available on campus will help prepare these students for life beyond school. The creative team includes Thomas Reuschling, FSC president; Kathleen Milburn, education department professor; Sherwin Holmes, director of the ESE Polk County Schools; Joyce Barclay, ESE area supervisor; Brescia Kendrick (School Board teacher); Terry Dennis, FSC vice president of finance; Kathy Benn, chair of the FSC physical education department; and Jack and Mickie Kosik and their daughter, Brittany, an ESE student.

Jack Kosik, co-founder of Noah's Ark, emphasized the mentally handicapped individual's need for friendship. "It's important to develop friendships, ongoing friendships where it's not a paid situation, not a school relationship. They graduate," he says, "and then there are no connections."

For further information about this program and the day's events, please contact Charlene Schultz, ESE teacher, at (863) 680-6470 or e-mail her at cschultz@flsouthern.edu.

About Florida Southern College
Florida Southern is a four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors and a master of business administration degree accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Located in Lakeland, Fla., the college is home to the largest, single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.

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