VWU program tailors learning for special needs students
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — By day, Charlie Pellenberg is a student at Virginia Wesleyan University, walking from class to class, studying music composition.
But by night, he’s a singer, songwriter and performer.
“For me, I always have music going on in my head,” Pellenberg said. “So I kind of need, I kind of like to find outlets, like, get that music out and into the world, you know?”
Pellenberg is neurodiverse and has high-functioning autism, learning differently than his peers, and a new $625,000 grant will help the university establish and expand its Center for Career Development and Neurodiversity, aiding students like himself.
The program will help develop specialized programs for students with special needs, where they can feel comfortable and thrive.
And it will also help prepare students for the workforce ahead.
So often, those who are on the autism spectrum or those with special needs have strong academic backgrounds, but when they go to interview for a job, it’s a challenge, because they may have trouble with social interactions.
This program aims to help mold course work to the students to help prepare them for the workforce.
“In K through 12, there’s the SECEP (Southeastern Cooperative Educational Programs) program for students with special needs,” Pellenberg said. “But once you reach college, you’re kind of on your own.”
His mother, Priscilla Monti, said most programs out there are for kids, and offered praise for a program geared for adults.
“There’s everything for kids,” Monti said. “But then these kids are getting older. And so to have something for adults is phenomenal. The timing is perfect.”
That’s one of the reasons Virginia Wesleyan developed the Center for Career Development and Neurodiversity. Students can study any program offered — and the university will mold the program to best fit the student’s needs.
“What we want to do is, on a more personalized, one-on-one basis, work with these students, and the traditional students, [to] help produce them for the workforce after graduation,” said Virginia Wesleyan University President Dr. Scott Miller.
To prepare, they’ll also do mock job interviews, help with résumés and even connect students with potential employers through local partnerships.
Miller said so often, colleges define outcomes as just getting a degree, but they want to do more than that.
“What’s energizing about this grant and what it will make possible is it will impact lives one at a time,” Miller said, “and it will help us create a more productive workforce as a part of it.”
Monti said businesses benefit by hiring someone who’s neurodiverse like her son.
“Their brains work differently and they solve problems differently,” Monti said, “so if a company is having a problem, or doesn’t even know they have a problem yet, often a neurodiverse brain coming in looks at it from a completely different angle and the business is going to succeed far more than if they hadn’t hired this person.”
The grant was made possible through the support of Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. The Center plans to serve about 100 students next school year.
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