Going Back to High School

by Katie Cano

For the first phase of our project the staff of Susquehanna Hall visited the Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents (RICA)–a level 5 special education school for children with emotional disturbance disorders that we decided to work with. We went to RICA to help these kids with their dreams of higher education.

We arrived at RICA with a group of 5 UMBC students, a Residential Life Community Director, and lots of information at 9:30 am. After showing everyone around and giving an in-depth tour to the other members of the UMBC community, I was able to introduce everyone to the senior class and some juniors of RICA.

We had a couple different sessions with the kids where we answered questions and talked abut college experience. Then we were able to sit down and eat lunch will all of the kids.

There were three big things that came out of that day:
1. This project required a lot of flexibility. We actually came prepared that day to host many different workshops and we actually didn’t get to conduct any of them. However, we informed the students to our best ability in the time and setting that we were given.

2. These kids needed our help and they got a lot out of that day. So many people are not able to go to college and pursue higher education, but these kids especially are starting farther back from the starting line. Many are in foster care and group homes. Many of those kids were not properly education within their schools and now at 16 and 17 are practically illiterate. Many of these kids have been abused and given a bad hand in life. They were asking us questions that may seem self-explanatory to many of us here at UMBC, but to them it’s all new.

3. It’s amazing how much you can connect with someone in just a couple of hours. I volunteer at RICA each week so I know these kids. However, by the end of the day, everyone else from UMBC were receiving pictures from the kids, getting hugs, and many thank yous.

I love those kids at RICA. They are so brave, so intelligent, and so courageous. I’m glad that we were able to teach them very different things about higher education and portray the message that everyone can receive some kind of higher education and take control of their future.