On Friday, March 27, SUNY Geneseo was host to four 3rd graders and their teachers from the Genesee Valley BOCES program. The purpose of the visit was to introduce the students (all on the Autism Spectrum) to the idea of attending college and for them to experience the life of a college student (at least for one day). Each of the visiting students was paired up with a Geneseo School of Education student, who served as their “buddy” for the day. The following is a write-up from one of the buddys.
“…I was able to spend the morning and afternoon with four great students from the BOCES program. My buddy for the day was a third grader named Makayla. We spent the morning looking at the wave machine in the Science building at Geneseo and seeing the cool things that happened when waves caused erosion on a shoreline! At lunch Makayla and I sat together with another student, Landon, and his college-buddy. They were telling us all about themselves including their pets and siblings and even what they have learned in school this year (they were especially excited to tell us about their fraction knowledge). Makayla was full of questions about college and was really interested with the fact that we lived here as well as went to school! We next got to have some fun running around campus during our scavenge hunt. Makayla was especially excited about finding a colorful piano in the College Union, and even started to play some notes! When we finally arrived at our last location, the library, there were prizes waiting for the students. Makayla was really excited about her prizes and showed them off all around! It was a great time to read with her and see her interest in all the different books and puppets she could look at and use in the library. Overall it was a great day filled with lots of fun and excitement!”
This was an amazing experience, not only for the 3rd graders but for the Geneseo students (and staff) as well! We hope that this is just the first in many such opportunities.
