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FOCUS
Alternative Learning Center |
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To Whom
It May Concern:
As my senior year at high school draws to a close, it becomes the time
when I look back and see how far I’ve come.
After all, to be both autistic and an honors-level student is no easy
task, and certainly a task I could never have done on my own.
Looking back, I can see that the people most responsible for my growth
and maturity are a group called FOCUS Alternative Learning Center.
Before the “FOCUS years,” in elementary school, I was an ace at class
assignments, but had very few people that I was truly friends with.
I simply couldn’t accept feedback if it wasn’t positive, it was
almost impossible for me to socialize, and I could not figure out that the
teachers were trying to be helpful instead of mean.
Of course, I had my academic talents, such as incredible spelling and
math abilities, but being able to help or be helped by others was far beyond my
reach. FOCUS sought to change all
that.
Simply put, FOCUS is a private school by day, an after school “learning
center” by afternoon, and a day camp during the summer.
The common goal at FOCUS is to work with kids, usually third to eighth
grade level, to improve their skills both academically and psychologically.
While there are only a moderate number of people who are there for the
school aspect, the true meaning of FOCUS is to teach kids how to get along with
peers and adults, how to correctly keep a conversation flowing, and how to learn
and have fun at the same time.
Having attended the FOCUS summer sessions for five years and their
after-school groups since starting high school, I can confidently say that FOCUS
is the one aspect that changed my life. How
they managed to help me when no one else could most likely lies in their ability
to think outside the box and assess situations from a psychological point of
view. This aspect managed to help
me when, after suffering an extreme mood swing from the previous week, the
counselors managed to discover that I had swimmer’s ear.
Any other learning center group would probably not have looked that far
into it. To help me, as well as the
other campers, learn to succeed with minimal help, FOCUS has everyone set goals
for themselves that will reward them with an end-of-week “allowance” if they
follow through.
This delicate balancing act of assisting and letting go at the right
moment is what helped me to grow. When
I advanced to becoming a counselor-in-training, things became almost
overwhelming at first, but now that I had learned how to fend for myself, things
slowly became easier as I set goals on improving my weaknesses and learning how
to follow through on them. With the
help of everyone involved, I made a lot of new friends and became a stronger
person at the same time.
Today, as my high school years come to a close, I can never thank FOCUS
enough for being my inspiration and making me into the person I am today.
I am certain that, at whatever college I get into, after the trials and
tribulations there become conquerable, I’ll look back on them and say, “It
couldn’t have been done without FOCUS.” CJ Jordan - 2004 |
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