SELLERSBURG, Ind. (WTHR) — Ivy Tech's Sellersburg campus is giving students with intellectual disabilities a new opportunity for education with a new program called Ivy Power.
Ivy Power will begin in the upcoming fall semester, offering a post-secondary education to students with intellectual disabilities. It's a two-year program complete with individualized studies. Students will take at least one undergraduate course and get vocational experience like internships and work study programs.
After completing the two years, students will get a certificate and graduate with other college students.
Two southern Indiana residents have been accepted into the program, according to our news gathering partners at News and Tribune. Gabby Campbell, 22, and Treasure Lehman, 21, will start the program in the fall. Both of them have Down syndrome.
Lehman lives in New Albany. When she found out she got into college, she posted a video on social media donning her Ivy Tech paraphernalia.
"I freaked out," Lehman told News and Tribune. "[My mom] called me from work, and I cried. It's been a lot to take in."
Campbell's mom said she was "vibrating" with excitement when she found out the good news.
"I am just getting ready to do things on my own," Campbell said.
Kim Kruer, Ivy Power's program coordinator long worked with Down Syndrome of Louisville.
"These individuals have been in the First Steps program, they've been in the school system, they've graduated from high school, so what's next?" Kruer said.
That's the question she asked that led to the partnership between the organization and the college.
Ivy Tech hopes the new program will provide a an inclusive environment and a full college experience for its students. Carly Riggs, Down Syndrome of Louisville's engagement director, said the students would help guide their own experience, and the goal is to make students be more employable when they finish.
