TCNJ

8 The College of New Jersey Magazine P R A I R I E T he momenT everyThing changed, Brianna Wittman was driving along I-295, en route to visit her father. It was June 11, 2012; high school graduation was a week away. She'd been accepted at Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri, and had already joined the cheerleading squad. The world felt big, full of possibilities, and Wittman was happy. Suddenly, a car swerved and hit her, sending her car sailing off the shoulder and into a tree. When she woke from a coma nearly two months later, a tracheotomy had silenced her; her dream of attending Evangel was gone; and doctors were cautioning that the effects of her brain injury might be insurmountable. But Wittman had faith. When she could speak, she set three goals: to walk, to run, to go to college. At first, therapists had to move her legs for her. There was pain and frustration and hundreds of hours of hard work. But, a year and a half later, in February 2014, Wittman took her first solo steps. Two years after that, she jogged across the soccer field in a local park. Last August, Wittman stepped onto campus at TCNJ. Six years after the accident that nearly killed her, she'd achieved her final goal. Brianna Wittman was going to college. Wittman had faith. When she could speak, she set three goals: to walk, to run, to go to college. math, and writing and research skills, builds a foundation for students who also take TCNJ classes alongside typical peers. Students are helped by mentors — TCNJ students from across majors — who live in CCS housing and offer studying and in-class support. Learning does not stop at the classroom door: CCS students are encouraged to engage in campus life and, over the years, have joined everything from Harry Potter's Order of the Nose-Biting Teacups to the fencing and field hockey clubs. "We mirror TCNJ as closely as we can," says Amy K. Schuler, CCS assistant director. "We are not a program that offers one sliver of the pie." CCS, and other college programs like it, provide students with intellec- tual disabilities the higher education options that typical peers have. "It's an inherent right to have the choice if you want the choice," says W ittman is one of 41 students currently attending the School of Education's Career and Community Studies Program. Since its inception in 2006, nearly 100 young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities from across New Jersey and as far away as Oregon and Florida have graduated after four years with certificates. The reasons Wittman sought out the CCS program were the same that draw any student to college. "I wanted to get an education and make friends and find a job," she says. "I wanted a life." The program's liberal learning framework is a comprehensive mix of academic, vocational, and social disciplines. The CCS core curriculum, including courses in computer literacy, consumer

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