Announcing Spartan Study sessions for Spring 2022! This is an opportunity for RCPD students to find tutoring and study assistance with their classes from other MSU students in a peer-educator/study group format. Hosted by members of MSU's Tower Guard honor society, these weekly study sessions will cover various commonly requested subjects, outlined below.
MSU RCPD participated in two notable giving activities during this holiday season: one to support a local family, and the other to assist the families affected by the Oxford High School shooting.
This year’s Tower Guard class took the opportunity to spread holiday cheer at Sparrow Hospital through hosting a donation drive for the pediatric patients who would be spending their holidays at the hospital.
Spartan Ties is a fun, interactive weekly meet-up hosted by MSU’s Tower Guard student volunteers in partnership with the RCPD, providing an opportunity for students registered with the RCPD to meet new friends and try new things. No specialists, no advisors, just students! Events will cover a range of topics and locations, such as meals, casual conversation, and stress reduction.
Earlier this semester, the Michigan State University Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities (RCPD) hosted its annual BOND Transitions Program! The event was a great success and significantly helped MSU students with autism adjust to life on campus.
Announcing Spartan Study sessions for Fall 2021! This is an opportunity for RCPD students to find tutoring and study assistance with their classes from other MSU students in a peer-educator/study group format. Hosted by members of MSU's Tower Guard honor society, these weekly study sessions will cover various commonly requested subjects, outlined below.
Every year, Homecoming Court recognizes the brightest and most exemplary leaders of the senior class at Michigan State University. These students are hand-selected to represent the diverse student body at MSU through attending various events. The 2021 Court consisted of 10 students, two of which were Tower Guard alumni. Maddy Niblock, secretary of the Tower Guard Class of 2019-2020, and Eliot Haddad, general member of the Tower Guard class of 2019-2020, represented the prestige of Tower Guard through their time on Homecoming Court.
The MSU RCPD recently welcomed Tanya Adams to the MSU/MRS Careers Collaborative! Tanya will be filling the position of Michigan Rehabilitative Services (MRS) counselor on the MSU campus.
On September 7, 2021, Tower Guard held its annual May’s Morning Sing induction ceremony, welcoming the newest class of members to the organization. Ishaan Modi, 2020-2021 Tower Guard Vice President, and Tushya Mehta, 2020-2021 Tower Guard Secretary, coordinated this event under the guidance of Liz Fuller, RCPD Leadership Development Specialist and lead Tower Guard advisor.
Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein will be here at MSU on Tuesday, October 12th from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. to reflect on his experience with working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for three months. He will share his perspective on living in Israel for three months in 2021 and the efforts he made to forge relationships and develop a common understanding of the struggles faced by those with disabilities.
Whenever one thinks of MSU’s Tower Guard, whether they are familiar with the organization or not, they immediately think of Beaumont Tower. This iconic monument on campus represents the legacy that Tower Guard, one of the oldest student organizations on campus, takes pride in. Mandy Zuckerman, member of the Tower Guard class of 2020-2021, realized that for an organization that represents accessibility and inclusivity, the space in which they meet, Beaumont Tower, is not accessible itself.
Recently, Michigan State University introduced GoodMaps to campus, improving accessibility in indoor navigation. Leslie Johnson, Assistant Director of Assistive Technology and coordinator of this initiative, explained that GoodMaps is a digital mapping app that uses LiDAR (3D laser scanning), image recognition, and positioning technology to create maps for indoor navigation. This allows students to have accurate, turn-by-turn directions when searching for a specific location within a building.
Recently, Michigan State University was recognized as one of the top allergy-accommodating schools nationwide in Allergic Living’s article, “Colleges That Go the Distance for Students with Food Allergies.”
Shaw and Hannah are well-known names across the MSU campus, recognized for significant contributions in leadership at the University. Hannah Zimmerman, great-great granddaughter of May Shaw and eleventh MSU President Robert Shaw, and great granddaughter of his successor John Hannah, recently joined Liz Fuller (RCPD Leadership Development Specialist and Lead Tower Guard Advisor), Madeleine Russell (2020-2021 Tower Guard President), and Ishaan Modi (2020-2021 Tower Guard Vice President) for a meeting inside Beaumont Tower to discuss her upbringing and future endeavors while learning about her family legacy at MSU.
MSU students take large strides in advancing technology for the ALS community. The team, consisting of Claire Kendell, Jessica Stevons, Sean Arnoldt, Don Gorton, Nicholas Boblet, and Brennan Koehler, sought to upgrade the original MSU SCATIR (Self-Calibrating Auditory Tone Infrared) Switch. The team was led and sponsered by Stephen Blosser, former RCPD employee.
Over the past month, the MSU IT Academic Technology team offered several webinars for educators that focused on accessibility. Of the nine webinars offered, three were accompanied or led by RCPD staff Leslie Johnson, Assistant Director of Assistive Technology, and Ashley Maloff, Chronic Health Ability Access Specialist.
The Bosco MSU/MRS Careers Collaborative is a partnership between the MSU RCPD, MSU Career Services Network (CSN), MSU Rehabilitation Counseling, and Michigan Rehabilitation Services (MRS) that focuses on career transition for students with disabilities. As a program that explores the development of professional skills and effective communication, the Careers Collaborative works to assist students in securing high-quality employment. While facilitating this transition, Careers Collaborative has recently provided internship opportunities to students--interested in Rehabilitation Counseling, Psychology, Special Education, Disability Studies, or other related fields--for the support of the RCPD.
In 2020, Tower Guard members were introduced to Impact Teams, which serve as smaller focus groups within the larger membership. Each team is dedicated to a specific area of service to the RCPD, giving Tower Guard members the opportunity to understand the depth of disability services in a better light. One team that stood out this year in terms of their accomplishments was the Assistive Technologies Impact Team.
The RCPD’s Braille Technology Advantage Program provides students with an unparalleled opportunity to read and learn with braille on MSU’s campus, with innovative efforts driving the ability for braille to be delivered to students wherever they may be located. Now thanks to the Canute 360, the world’s first multi-line braille e-reader, RCPD students are granted even more educational possibilities.