Addlestone Library and the C of C REACH Program = Winning Combination for All - College of Charleston Libraries
The Addlestone Library is the recent recipient of a most special award: The College of Charleston REACH Program’s Business Partnership Award… and the Library is doling awards right back! Matt Raczka, a second year REACH student from Middleton, CT, was the Library’s Student Employee of the Month Award for March 2013.
Matt worked at the circulation desk during the Spring 2013 semester, and all Library staff were impressed with his strong work ethic and attention to detail. He had a special knack for finding misplaced books and returning them to their proper place on the shelves. Matt has some advice for his fellow students: “Students need to know that when they remove a book from the shelves, it should be returned through the circulation desk in order to make sure it gets back to the right spot. Students mean well, but they usually don’t put the books back properly, and then no one can find them!”
As an out-of-state student, Matt did a lot of research into academic programs, and he felt that the College’s REACH program outshone its competition. “And there’s no winter!” says Matt. An added plus coming from Connecticut!
Matt especially enjoyed his public health courses and hopes to become an x-ray technician, a job, he says, that will both “fill the pocket and fill the heart.” He’ll take the skills he learned at the Addlestone Library with him on the path to making that dream a reality.
According to Sherry Gadsden, Head of Circulation, “The Addlestone library has a well-established climate within its walls that allows all students an opportunity to achieve academic and career success. Working with REACH students in the library has been an amazingly gratifying experience. Also, this experience has taught me that if
we are to achieve optimal success we must remain open-minded to those that are
different.”
The College of Charleston’s Realizing Educational and Career Hopes (REACH) program is a four-year inclusive program designed to provide students with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities the opportunity to participate in the academic, residential, social and professional experiences offered by the College, with appropriate support for success. REACH students participate in regular classes and a career development program and receive a certificate upon program completion.
Congrats to Matt on a successful semester, and kudos to Sherry and the rest of the Library staff for providing him a great opportunity in a socially and academically enriching environment!