do some day. I want to teach children with special needs.’ I told her that I wished that I could let her go, and went on my way, but throughout the day I kept thinking about what Katie had said and how sincere she was. So, I talked to our principal and asked him if there was any way that Katie could go with me and work with my students at Blackwell. He agreed, and Katie encouraged a few other freshmen to go with us.” “Then, something amazing happened,” Adams said. “Our precious students, who have so many special needs, began learning new activities at a much faster rate. Students who would barely talk or participate started interacting with the high school students and soon began talking, laughing, and performing better in physical activities! Blackwell students fell in love with these girls. And of
course the high school girls absolutely fell in love with the students at Blackwell. This created a wonderful opportunity for our children who have many challenges, but it also did something extraordinary in the hearts of the young ladies assisting them.” Four years later, what started with one student who had a strong desire to help children with special needs grew into the Friends Helping Friends Club, the largest service club at ECCHS, and new this year, at ECMS as well. “One of the positive results of our school trips and special events is that several of the Friends Helping Friends members decided to become Student Interns, who spend a block of their school day assisting students with special needs as part of the Work Based Learning Program,” Adams said.
With her new post on the board of the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, Sandy will be able to focus her enthusiasm for special needs students statewide. “I am humbled and consider it an honor to be part of this new agency, to be given the exciting opportunity by Representative McCall and Governor Deal to offer assistance to Georgians with disabilities,” she said. “I am so excited about sharing Friends Helping Friends and the Vocational Rehabilitation program to schools across the state. Helping children and adults with extra special needs puts things into proper perspective and changes lives forever! It has certainly given purpose to my ‘job,’ which I consider to be a very special privilege.” For more information, go to www. friendshelpingfriendsclub.com to view videos and pictures.
religion conference story continued (Continued from Page 23) Speaker Barbara Brown Taylor has been an Episcopal priest since 1984 and is the author of 12 books including the New York Times bestseller “An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith.” She has taught religion at Piedmont College, where she holds the Butman Chair in Philosophy and Religion, since 1998. In her welcoming address, Taylor talked about how her students of various faiths have helped her and other students overcome the “single story” that is often presented by Hollywood about people around the world. “The danger of a single story is that it creates stereotypes. And the problem with stereotypes is not that they are entirely untrue, but that they are incomplete,” she said. “They make one story the only story. And the single story robs people of their dignity. Show a people as one thing—only one thing—over and over again, and that is what they become. The good news is that we are living in a country where single stories are breaking down. Iraqi war veteran Tulsi Gabbard is sworn into office with her hand on the Bhagavad Gita. Protestants in Congress make way for Catholics and Jews. … Democrats and Republicans both learn that we are not as keenly discerning of our opponents’ faults as we thought we were.” She talked about one student from Serbia, who “single handedly defeats stereotypes about Muslims among 26 of his classmates at a small liberal arts college in northeast Georgia. With news stories like these popping up all over the place, it may not be long before we all discover that we are more similar than we think. That we are capable of feelings more complex than patronizing pity. … That there is still a real possibility of connection as full lively human beings. The more stories we are willing to hear and tell both about ourselves and our neighbors, the more free we are to see each other for who we really are—beautiful complex souls whose lives can never be reduced to a single plot line.”
summer 2013
Jeffrey Selman, Atlanta Chapter President of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, chaired a workshop at the conference.
| The piedmont college journal
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