If you were to ask the students what their version of success is, it very some of them it was very much just getting through the program and learning the skills. We have some students who have gone on to get a job, and they are now living independently in their own apartments. In fact, we were able to go visit one of those students this year, and he was so proud to show off his apartment. We have other students who went through the halo program, took the placement tests, maybe started developmental ed and have worked their way up to completing a certificate or an associate's degree.
Students with intellectual or developmental disabilities often have resources that extend about until the age of 18. At Heartland Community College, there's a program that helps give a higher education experience to students ages 18 through 28. With those disabilities, the heartland Academy for Learning Opportunities Program provides coursework involving life skills, such as cooking money, computer technology, as well as the social development and college experience that many of these students might not have been able to have beyond secondary education. This is random acts of knowledge presented by Heartland Community College, I'm your host, Steve fast. Today we're talking about the program the students, and how to build a bridge toward a college experience for students that might not have had one otherwise.
I am Kori Folkerts. I am the Associate Director of Student Access and accommodation services. So that's just a nice way of saying I oversee the office that provides accommodations to students with disabilities. And then I also oversee the halo program. So it's kind of just an umbrella program, or it's a program that fits under the SAAS umbrella. But they are definitely two separate entities these days now that the halo program has grown,
and by SAAS means student accommodation,
student access and accommodation services. Yes,
I think every college has a position like yours in a department like yours, but community colleges and in particular Heartland covers such a wide range of students, and in particular, the halo program, what does Halo stand for?
So Halo stands for Heartland Academy for learning opportunities. And it is a program specifically designed for individuals between the ages of 18 and 28, who have an intellectual cognitive developmental delay that want to go to college. So a lot of times these students have older siblings or friends and they see them go on to college as the next step in life after high school. And they want to go as well. There are other programs across the state that offer similar opportunities and learning skills that the halo program does, but ours is local. So that's nice. It gives them an opportunity to go to college be a college student, because they do they get to experience a lot of the aspects of college, but a little closer to home. And so we don't have to do you know, some of the housing pieces that come with universities and stuff like that? So
so for the most part, hallo students, what is their high school experience? Like? What type of classes and system are they going through, up until that point where they would normally leave high school, in many cases, become adults, and move on to that next step? What type of educational opportunities precede those students coming to Heartland.
So it really depends on the student and the level that they're at. So for our Halo program, we do have a minimum level that we like to kind of stick out, which is a minimum math reading third grade, some of our students do four years of high school and they graduate. And then they go to Halo. Some of our students utilize other services, and they will go to school until they're 21, or even 22, whether that be in their high school, whether it be an outside facility or a transition program. And then like I said, Go to Heartland. So it really depends on the location is kind of a big thing. So are they in the Bloomington Normal area? Are they in a more rural area that doesn't offer as many of those transition programs, some of them go into kind of vocational type programs that will allow them to get a job, do job coaching and all of those things. So again, the nice thing about this is it's an individualized program, kind of so we meet the student where they are because so many of them are coming from different backgrounds.
Yes, there is such a wide variety of students that are in this type of program. And they have a wide variety of I'd imagine of skills, some might be able to move on from the halo program, or maybe even while they're in that program into college level courses.
Yes. So we have a lot of students that actually do that. Now. Some wait until they're completely done with Halo and then they go on and they take credit courses. Some do it during one of our assets of our students is that you give us a semester, so give us the fall semester to help you get acclimated to the college. Understand how college life works because there is a huge difference. In the independence that they get, so we ask them to give us a semester. Some do, some don't, it's okay. But we ask them to give us a semester. And then we work with them to kind of go through, take the placement test like other students, if it's needed, we look at kind of what their initial interests are. Now, I will say, I'm not an advisor, so I don't advise them as an advisor, would we just look at kind of getting kind of getting their feet in the water first, and then once they graduate from the halo program, or at least before this expansion year, we would then transition them off to advisors who would kind of go through that whole process with them.
I want to talk about some of the expanded opportunities that have come about in a moment. But the thing I think that makes this situation unique is it is for college age adult, the transition for students coming into college and the college experience is difficult for anyone. But what are some of the skills in particular that the halo program focuses on? To try to help the students move along? One of the things you mentioned was independence. A lot of students struggle with independence, but what are the specific skills that you're working on with these young people?
Absolutely. So a lot of these students come in and we do when we do an interview with the families, we ask the students question, we ask parents questions, nine times out of 10, when we ask the parents, what is your goal for your student? In this program, their immediate answer is independence. We just want them to be able to be independent, whether that's live independent, or feel accomplished and independent. That is the big piece of it. So some of the skills that we look at our community awareness. So we want them to be aware of the community that they're living in money management, can we all use that, where they make a budget, and we take them to banks to show them what that looks like. They have a health and wellness course, I feel like that is always in a fall semester, because they do a small unit around Thanksgiving, and how healthy Thanksgiving is for you as a person. We have classes around social development, we have classes around cooking, so we want them to be as independent as we possibly can. And so our goal is to just build out that independent skill set. So we want them to have kind of that. And then while they're on campus, because they're college students, they get access to everything that every other college student gets. So they can go to the FRC if they want. They eat lunch, in what used to be the cafe, but now they lunch outside the library most or most of them do. So it really just depends. They have free rein they can the taco trucks or the food trucks that we bring in each day. They have capacity to kind of do what they need to during their free time, as long as they show it to us. Well, and we should
mention that but Heartland there's big construction going on. So eventually there will be another student services dining area.
Yes. And they will populate it during lunch hours.
So is that a problem to get the students on schedule? Yeah, managing your own time, you have to get used to that.
So one of the things that kind of works in our favor is that a lot of our students are brought here by their parents. So parents make sure most days that they get here, but a lot of our students have expanded their independence and using things like connect transit. And so that requires a lot of prep work on their behalf. So we don't see too much issues with tardiness or even missing class, they actually really love being on the campus. They love engaging with their friends. And so as far as that goes, we don't have too many issues with that piece. I mean, overall, our students are great, I may be biased, but I thoroughly enjoy working with all of our students in the halo program. They do very well very quickly in establishing a routine. And that's fine. So the first couple of weeks, our teachers and myself even spend a little extra time making sure they get from the class to SCB to where there's a microwave to heat up their lunch, and that they're getting back. But it really only takes about a week or two for them to get used to the campus and understand the routine that they've developed and kind of stick with it. For a majority of this semester.
We talked a little bit about expanded programming for the students and what your department does. First of all, we should probably talk about how that's possible to expand the program was some grant money involved? Yeah.
So we received a grant from ICCB. It is the innovative bridge and Transition Program grant, we received a little over $200,000 to build out an expansion year of the Halo program. And so the catchphrase that I've been using to kind of explain what this expansion year is, is is going to look at answering the question what next, specifically for the students who are in this program. I'm a little jealous of it because I wish somebody would have helped me with what was next when I graduated college. So it's a great opportunity Need to kind of walk through it's a year long process to walk through? What do I want to do now? Either I graduated from high school, and I want to take this expansion year and then go either into college, or I'm done with Halo. And now what? So it really does it works with the students to answer the question kind of what next? What do I do next with life? Well, what are some
of the opportunities that you have for some of these students, maybe through partnerships out in the community, I know that one thing that I've heard talked about with this program is it helps the students get to the point where maybe maybe before they couldn't just go right into getting a job. And it builds those skills, do they have opportunities are the people you work with, where they can get some hands on experience, and get right out into the workforce.
So the nice thing is, is a lot of our students already have jobs, they may not be their careers, but they have jobs. So one of the things that I love about that is following COVID, we made it kind of a goal of ours that if you have a job, we'll take a field trip to your job, and you get to show it off. So we have been to Meijer, we've been to HyVee, we're actually going to the zoo this year, which is one of the awesome ones. So we know those partnerships already exist. We're working still in the developing process of kind of identifying that vocational step. So obviously, we work at the college, we're a little more familiar with that transition into the college life. So we're working on those partnerships right now, with some of the vocational opportunities that some of our past students have already taken up. So we have past students that work at State Farm. We have past students that work at daycares. So we're working through that process of kind of seeing how we can assist those students in making that transition from Halo to employment, or Halo to education to employment.
Are there any particular stories you can think of any students that you can think of that you really saw progress? I imagine you probably see it all the time. But are there any that just come to mind that you think of their story is this is an example I want to show the world of how this program can really change your life?
Yeah, so I my blanket answer on that is always success is what you need it to be right. So successes in the eye of each of our students. So I think if you were to ask the students what their version of successes, it very some of them, it was very much just getting through the program, and learning the skills. And I think that's amazing. We have some students who have gone on to get a job, and they are now living independently in their own apartments. In fact, we were able to go visit one of those students this year. And he was so proud to show off his apartment, and how that worked and how he walked through that process. We have other students who should be close to graduating with a certificate. And so they went through the halo program, took the placement tests, maybe started developmental ed and have worked their way up to completing a certificate or an Associate's degree. And so for me, they look very different, right. So some versions of success are just completion. Others, they want to go on, and they want to do a little bit more with the education or they want to go into a different job. And all of those things are great. So I think success is always what the student sets it to be.
So you mentioned earlier that you have some students that their parents bring them to class or bring them to the campus here. I imagine that that, you know, just isn't anyone that sends their kid off for the college experience, that some parents are maybe more willing to let their child have that independence leave the nest better than others? Do you ever have to kind of almost in a way work with the parents to say, Hey, listen, this is maybe something you've been very well trained to keep an extra eye on your child. But they're learning adult skills at this point.
So we do a very inclusive orientation at the start of every semester. And even our application process is pretty inclusive with parents and student. So we do have them come to campus, they interview with us, we ask a group of questions together with the parent and the student in the room, and then we separate them out. And so then I get to have a little bit more one on one conversation with mom, or dad or guardian, whoever and say, What concerns do you have? What things do you think we need to know? So we allow them to kind of lay it all out on the table for us, which is helpful. And then we have an orientation the week before school starts. We bring the students and their families to campus. We give tours we allow the students to log in, and then we take parents off to the side and again, allow them that opportunity to kind of say these are my concerns. This is what I will maybe need to feel comfortable. Again, our parents are Great, I probably again, I'm biased, but they do they trust us with their with their students. And this is a specialized population. So we make sure that we're, we're covering our bases, we want to make sure that we're introducing our students to security, we want to make sure that our students have a really good frame of reference for open door policies and people that can help. So we work very hard to make sure that students are comfortable that families are comfortable. And that really, we're setting everybody up for success. But also, because this is a specialized group of students, some of them are their own guardians. So we have more of a group effort when it comes to communication. So we have the ability to communicate a little bit more with parents. So Ashley Rogowski, who is our program facilitator for Halo sends, like monthly updates for like hear all of the amazing things that we did this month. And here are the amazing things we're doing next month. So it kind of just checks everybody in and keeps them aware of what's going on, when we're doing experiential events and stuff like that.
So one final question, we mentioned that the program is expanding and the number of classes that will be offered this additional time for students to take that next step. Is there more room for this to grow? Or do you think that at this point, this is the way that the program needs to be for a while? Do you have the capacity needs that you might be looking is there more of a demand?
So yeah, we have different opportunities and different dynamics, right. So our Halo, we're now kind of coordinated at the halo initial to your program. That's pretty set right now. But we're good. If we were to expand this, it would be into the Pontiac and Lincoln areas, looking at those opportunities. And honestly, I have an information night in Pontiac coming up just to see if there's an interest for that, we'll do the same thing with Lincoln in the future, you know, we just are kind of seeing where the interest lies. As for the expansion year, this is a pilot year. And so we're just trying to figure out what we have, whether it's going to be a good fit, whether it's going to fit our students needs, because we have a specific focus, right. So we have classes that are going to look at social emotional development, transition to college, or the workforce success education, which is already a college course, these students are going to get a college credit coming out of the expansion year. And professionalism. It's marketing this correctly, right? Because students can come out of the Halo program and into the expansion year. But you don't have to be a halo graduate in order to take the expansion year. So maybe a student wants to go into, you know, credit courses, but they're a little uneasy, and they're like, Wait, is there an option for transitioning in at a different pace, so I feel more prepared, this is great. We also have kind of a capstone logic to this. So you'll take a capstone, or you'll have a capstone in this expansion year, that will look at vocation, credit, or even just an independent living. So you don't know that you want to go credit, you don't know that you want to what your job is yet, but you really need to focus on like independent living. So we'll work through that. And so we're still building out some of the pieces, right, we got the grant in January, it is now May. And so there are still some pieces that are just starting to fit into place. So I think there's always potential for growth. And this program has gotten a lot of wonderful traction over the last two years. But with growth brings all kinds of things, right. So it brings more staff it brings funding, like we have to have funding, we've been a part of Heartland FFP process for the last year where we raised money for scholarships and experiential events. So at the end of the day, all of these things kind of put us in a place where we have to be at capacity. So for right now, I will say, our 24 Halo students and hopefully up to 15 students and expansion are where we are sitting comfortably. But there's always room for growth. And I'll never say that we can't expand beyond this. It's just timing and, you know, having the ability at that time and the funding and the funding.
Absolutely. Well, Cory, thanks so much for coming on and talking about the halo program and your job with student access and accommodation services. And thanks for letting us know a little bit about what's going on at Heartland.
Thank you. I'm happy to share.
Cory Folkerts is Associate Director of Student Access and accommodation services at Heartland Community College. That department administers the heartland Academy for learning opportunities or Halo program. If you're interested in other interviews about education or other topics, subscribe to random acts of knowledge on Spotify, Apple podcasts or wherever you heard this one. Thanks for listening
