Help me stay at Shepherds College!

Happiness is . . . . getting a college acceptance letter in the mail!

Allow me to introduce you to my son, Tristian. He is a senior at Jamestown High School in Virginia. Some of his favorite activities are being on the school's cheer squad as the mascot - which he's lettered in and proudly wears his letter jacket - Go Eagles!, singing in the choir at school, riding horses at Dream Catchers (a therapeutic riding center), working very part time as the cow at Chick fil-a, attending weekly Young Life gatherings, serving as an acolyte at St Martin's Episcopal Church where we attend, volunteering at our local ReStore (Habitat for Humanity) and like many teenagers he enjoys playing computer games. He has a host of online friends, from all over the world! These are things Tristian currently likes to do. One thing he would like to do when he graduates is what most kids want to do - go to college. However, Tristian has an intellectual disability and he is unable to understand or complete college level work without severe curriculum modifications and special services. 


My daughter started her college career almost two years ago. The first night of the family weekend we were talking to one of the department chairs (being the Jamestown Eagle ALWAYS comes up in conversation) and he suggested that Tristian come to Longwood University and be the mascot. His face lit up, and mine, well I quickly turned away - I thought, what on earth was I going to tell my son? How was I going to tell my Tristian, he would not be able to be the mascot, because he would never be able to attend the college? At the time, he didn't even understand the whole application process. Tristian has been included all of his life, we have never told him he couldn't do something. We have constantly sought out activities - typical activities for him to attend. Then I remembered a college I stumbled on (online) a few years back. 

Shepherd College (ShepherdsCollege.org) is a post secondary three year program for students with intellectual disabilities. Their main focus is appropriate independence, and they offer two majors, horticulture and culinary arts. It is a long distance away in Union Grove, Wisconsin (outside of Milwaukee), and I will miss him dearly, but this is the absolute best place for him to be. We have had the opportunity to visit the school several times - one time he attended a weeklong camp. The life skills and the vocational skills he will learn are targeted to his specific needs and independence possibilities. The program of tuition outstrips what we can teach him at home and expands the focus to places we may not have envisioned him being able to go. It is a fantastic community of educators that work at teaching behavior for independent life, a life skill that will be a source of income, and interaction strategies that help those with special needs work and live while understanding to their capability social norms of life’s myriad environments. Over 95% of their graduates are employed after graduation and over 87% are employed in their chosen field.

Tristian would like to 'be a chef'. Attending Shepherds is probably the only way he would be able to attend any type of culinary school. With it will come the skills he needs to live independently, though he will always need supports, we'd like for him to live as independently as possible.

Tristian also has a strong desire to play organized sports. When he was younger he participated in Buddy Baseball (which pairs college students with students with disabilities to play ball). He studied Tae Kwon Do for seven years, participating in classes and sparring. He swam on our neighborhood swim team for a couple of years and he loves to shoot hoops. Going to Shepherds will also give him the opportunity to play team sports - they offer basketball, volleyball and track. The school competes on the Special Olympics circuit and who knows, perhaps he can do a little mascoting?

This school comes with a price tag of $42K per year ($126K total) but I know it will be worth every penny. And we can certainly take out loans but the reality is Tristian would never be able to pay them back. 

There's more to our story - 

I was diagnosed with Stage IIIC Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) in August of 2011 and then a little over a year later I was diagnosed with Stage IV IBC (metastasized to my bones). Whenever I would go up for communion I would get teary (not boo hooing, just a little teary eyed).  One Sunday I realized I didn't (get teary). I shared that (no more tears) with a friend after church and said to her, "I think I got the God thing?!" and she replied, "Oh, that belongs on a t-shirt and you need to sell them for Tristian's tuition".

So, one day while I was resting (I had just recently gotten a chemo treatment) I pulled myself out of bed and set up to the computer for about 10 minutes (that was just about as long as I could sit) And in that 10 minutes, I created the "I got the GOD thing!" Tshirt - and in the following weeks we sold 90!

If you got the God thing! with a donation (upon request) we will send you a "I got the GOD thing!" t-shirt. You can either send me a message, or just let us know in the comments and I'll let you know the sizes and colors we have available. 

Thank you for taking the time to read our story - and know any amount you may donate is most appreciated!

PS - After 'getting the God thing', and a drastic lifestyle change, I started to heal from cancer - the last PET scan was clear.  Western medicine will never say I'm cured, but I know differently :0)