Vanessa Yoder
Students Contribute to Disabilities Advocacy
Two students are the recipients of $500 scholarships in the second year of the Student Associates Program of Anabaptist Disabilities Network (ADNet).
Vanessa Yoder of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and Kathy Dickson of Bluffton, Ohio are pursuing one-year projects that grow out of each student's interests and career path. At the same time contribute to the disabilities advocacy work of ADNet.
Yoder, a member of Maple Grove Mennonite Church in Belleville, Pennsylvania is in her senior year at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, where she is majoring in elementary and special education. She discovered her career interest in working with children with disabilities during a year of living and serving in the Service Adventure in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she thoroughly enjoyed her work as an assistant to a special education teacher. Vanessa is coordinating her ADNet work with an honors research project at Geneva College. She is exploring ways of building understanding of autism among groups of children so that they are more capable of being loving and inclusive towards their peers who live with autism.
Dickson who is Director of Career Development at Bluffton University, is also studying in the Masters of Divinity (M.Div.) program at Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio. Her interest in disabilities has been strongly influenced by her relationship with a beloved aunt who had Down Syndrome. Even after her aunt’s death, the relationship has regularly inspired her to find ways of connecting with individuals with disabilities and their families. Kathy plans to look for opportunities to contribute to ADNet through theological reflection and writing in conjunction with both her seminary coursework and her employment at Bluffton University.
Executive Director, Paul Leichty, who works from ADNet's office in Goshen, Indiana is excited about the gifts that these two students bring to their work. The program is in its second year after being inaugurated with the 2008-09 academic year.
Leichty announced that applications are being accepted for the 2010-2011 academic year. In addition, starting in January 2010, ADNet is offering students additional opportunities for focused projects for shorter periods of time. These projects will meet a specific need outlined by ADNet and will be associated with a particular class project. Details are on the ADNet website or interested students can contact the ADNet office for more information.
ADNet is the advocacy ministry for Mennonite and related churches whose mission is to provide resources for families and congregations as they work to include persons with all types of disabilities, including physical, sensory, psychiatric, and intellectual disabilities. More information is available by calling 1-877-214-9838 or going to www.adnetonline.org.