Marissa Poe
The Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities' esteemed statusas one of the few universities in Michigan with a U.S. Department of Education receiving a TRIO grant gains new global perspectiveswith the addition of Duha Almass to Team RCPD. RCPD's securing of the grant was the product of the staff'ssustained history providing comprehensive services to students withdisabilities with emphasis on low income and first generation TRIO students.
Duha saw the already thriving TRIO program as an opportunityto enhance her graduate studies. As a graduate student studying Rehabilitation Counseling,her true passion is to help students. Taking on accommodations services for studentswith disabilities cemented her desire to focus her future career on promotingawareness about people with disabilities.
Her vision for working with TRIO students stems heavily fromher experience as an international student in the United States. Duha who,hails from Kuwait, received her undergraduate degree from the University ofMichigan. She explains, "When Ifirst came to the United States, the experience of learning from people whosebackgrounds differ from my own sharpened my self-knowledge and insight byallowing me to compare and contrast my life experience with others." She plansto provide opportunities for TRIO students to experience different cultural to buildtheir awareness. She knows thatthis exposure will make them more self-aware and help them in their future.
Another key component of her efforts with the TRIO studentswill be asame age mentoring program that would provide students with academic support, modeled after the successful RCPD STATE program. One-on-one mentoringis a proven method to increase students academic achievement and aids insustaining continued success. Having mentoring experience herself, Duha notesthat same age mentoring can also give students social support as well.
Although Duha has just started working with the office she explained,"I haveseen that the people love what they do at the RCPD. I hope that my internshipgives me valuable experience that I can use to enhance the lives of my futurestudents in Kuwait." RCPD has inspired Duha upon graduation to work in Kuwait tohelp advance the University of Kuwait's disability services. Her overallcareer goal is to become a professor of psychiatric disability, promotingawareness around the world.