College Success

Donor: Johnson Foundation

What was needed:

Like other deaf youth, our students need both training and tools to ensure they are prepared to meet the challenges of post-secondary environments – and to succeed!

Results:

The Johnson Education for Life Transition Program is a unique comprehensive transition program that includes academic enrichment, work-based experiences, family involvement, mentoring, youth leadership and partnerships with colleges and employers. Students accepted in the program are involved through high school, from freshman through senior years.

Eighty percent of the program’s students have been admitted into college with an almost 90% rate of students successfully staying in college. One of those students, Kenneth Love, FSDB ’08, is currently a sophomore computer engineering major at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in New York.

How did the ELTP program prepare him for the rigors of college?

“At the time, I thought the activities and books we discussed were boring but now that I am in college I realize just how important the program and its activities were. I learned so many valuable lessons in this unique program. I learned to not give up. When I am having a hard time in a class, I know how to get the assistance I need. The ELTP program helped me select the right college and which major I wanted to apply for. The program has also given me the tools to balance my academic life with my social personal life. I am currently doing well with a 3.1 GPA, I am on the swim team and also involved in the Gaming Club.”