TCNJ

23 WINTER 2025 hailey Weiss '19 Special education teacher TCNJ Bonner alum Hailey Weiss '19 had known since they were 9 years old that they wanted to be a special education teacher. "I'm a very out-there kind of person. And I grew up in a very small, conservative town," they say. "I experienced a lot of bullying as a child because I was different." One of Weiss' elementary school teachers recommended they join a "gym buddy program," and so Weiss then spent recesses with peers in an adaptive physical education group. "I made some of the best friends I have ever had in that program." It was also how Weiss discovered a knack for interacting with people with special needs. " I have a really grounded understanding of what people are capable of when we just give them the opportunity to connect." — hailey Weiss By 13, Weiss decided TCNJ — with its stellar School of Education — was the college to aim to attend. And after completing the Bonner summer program for high schoolers at 16, Weiss was determined to be a Bonner Scholar, too. So it seems it was kismet when, in 2016, as a first-year Bonner, Weiss led a new program called Unified Learning in which residents from The Arc Mercer came to the college for weekly, inclusive classes with TCNJ students. Weiss and other Bonners taught a range of topics from mindfulness to STEM, all with the goal of the two groups getting to know each other and learning together. "Folks in group home or day program systems only interact with the other folks who are in those systems," says Weiss. "And so it was a really big deal to have a space where all people were treated as equals." Weiss credits the Bonner Program for helping develop their values as a person who works with people with disabilities. "I have a really grounded understanding of what people are capable of when we just give them the opportunity to connect, and how important inclusion is," they say. "I needed that practice at TCNJ to broaden my horizons and to learn what community meant to me," Weiss says. "And now I feel it every day. It's what everything I believe in life is about." bonner's iMPaCT Bonners completed 24,000 hoUrs of CoMMUniTy serviCe and soCial JUsTiCe Training in the 2023–2024 academic year 23 WINTER 2025

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