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Giving and Receiving:
Kira’s Story
(Sidebar in original publication)
This past year, Kira Fisher was an AmeriCorps participant with Action for Children Today AmeriCorps in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She provided programmatic support and time release for teachers in a childcare center. Of this experience she has the following to say:
My service included teaching literacy, team-building exercises, and pre-kindergarten skills. I served in an inclusive classroom in which one-third of the children had disabilities. I made a big difference with the children. One of the student’s mothers came to me and said that I was a wonderful role model for her daughter who had cerebral palsy....I was able to help [two children with cerebral palsy] with daily living skills, and this helped me grow as a person. I was able to teach them and show them what they needed to learn and what they could achieve....[Through this experience] I gained insight into what I want to pursue in graduate school. I will use my educational award to pursue a masters in Early Intervention Education, working to include children in all kinds of classrooms regardless of where they come from or what level they are at.
Excerpted with permission from Service & Inclusion: A Multimedia Resource for Inclusive Community Service, a Web site developed by Emily E. Miller through her fellowship with the Corporation for National Service (www.serviceandinclusion.org). The Web site includes transcripts of interviews she conducted with 32 national service participants who have disabilities.
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Resources: Resources and Related ICI Publications
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Citation: Shoultz, B., Miller, E.E., & Ness, J. (2001). Impact: Feature Issue on Volunteerism by Persons with Developmental Disabilities, 14(2) [online]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Institute on Community Integration. Available from http://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/142/. __________ Hard copies of Impact are available from the Publications Office of the Institute on Community Integration. The first copy of this issue is free; additional copies are $4 each. You can request copies by phone at 612-624-4512 or E-mail at icipub@umn.edu, or you can fax or mail us an order form. See our listing of other issues of Impact for more information. The print design version (PDF, 448K, 28 pp.) of this issue of Impact is also available for free, complete with the color layout and photographs. This version looks the most like the newsletter as it was printed. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity employer and educator.
