Introduction - Rumbi Mupinga

Hello All :)

My name is Rumbi Mupinga and I am from Harare, Zimbabwe in the southern part of Africa. I have lived all over the U.S. and recently made a move to the Youngstown area from Kent. I graduated from Kent State University in December 2013 in Psychology. I am now trying to pursue my education as an Intervention Specialist. Before I graduated I started working at Independence of Portage County which is an agency that fosters to adults with disabilities. I have been there for 3 years as a Therapeutic Support Professional and I have developed a huge passion for individuals with special needs. I have also been involved with Camp Sunshine of Aurora for 2 years and worked alongside Dr. Gongola, who is my inspiration. I am very dedicated to promoting inclusion in the community. I am more interested in working with children as to adults based off of my quirky and social personality. I am a big kid at heart. This is my 5th online class but my 1st at YSU, so I am eager to see how the course goes. :)

Introduction- Megan Giesen

Hello everyone,

My name is Megan and I am originally from Cleveland, Ohio. I recently graduated with my Bachelors in Health and Human Services from University at Buffalo. The program I am in now is Special Education. I am the GA for the women’s soccer team here at YSU. I am looking to become a Special Education Teacher. I have taken a few online courses during my undergraduate years.

I have truly enjoyed coaching children, and doing an internship with a preschool. They are the reason I have decided to take my next journey in life as a teacher. With my experience with coaching children, I believe that the best part is when a child truly understand something I am trying to teach them. When they don’t understand it and I am showing them, and then that light bulb goes off, it is a great felling knowing I helped that child. I look forward to learning a lot this semester so I can pass on knowledge to others and see the light bulb go off in a classroom.

Introduction-Kathryn Meleky

Hello,
My name is Kathryn Meleky. I  am extremely driven and passionate about working with individuals (especially children) diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. This is my first semester  in the Master of Special Education degree while  pursuing the  tract of Intervention Specialist (mild-moderate). I currently live in Warren, Ohio and I received my Bachelor's  from Penn State with the degree of Human Development and Family Studies.

I am currently unemployed but I have a wonderful husband that is extremely supportive while I am pursuing my dream. Upon graduating with my Bachelor's degree in 2003, I was employed as a Therapeutic Staff Support Specialist working with children diagnosed with both developmental and behavioral disorders. I especially enjoyed working in a school setting ( would also work with children in their home setting and community environment) because it was a challenge yet rewarding experience to witness a child learn and prosper in the school environment. I felt almost "stuck" because without a Masters degree I was only able to follow and utilize while role-playing and modeling intervention techniques in order for the child to adapt  and thrive while learning with other children. My dream is to enhance my professional skill base so that I can assist children more.

This is my very first online course and I am extremely excited yet a little apprehensive because I want to make sure I navigate site correctly. Any suggestions from my fellow peers would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading my blog and I look forward to meeting everyone in the future.

Introduction Tim Calhoun

Hello,
My Name is Tim Calhoun, I live in Canfield,  Ohio.  I am a 2014 graduate of Hiram College, where I received my Bachelors Degree in Business Management, and played baseball all four years. I currently work as a Stadium Operations staff assistant at the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, which is a minor league baseball affiliate of the Cleveland Indians.  At the Scrappers I am in charge of managing over twenty employees at one time as well as making sure the stadium is up to standards to provide a good experience for our fans.  This is my third year in the organization and I work with a lot of great people there.  I also coach middle school football at Canfield as well as Varsity and Junior Varsity baseball at Champion High School in Warren, Ohio.

I am pursing my masters as a intervention specialist (mild- moderate).  I decided to move out of the sports world to purse this degree after coaching and realizing that I needed to be in a classroom teaching everyday.  Special Education has been a passion of mine for a long time in high school I took part in a class called Helping Hands, where we went to our middle school and helped out in their special ed. rooms for class periods. I also coached Special Olympic softball from my freshman year in high school all the way through college.  I'm excited to get started in a new field that I have had a passion for, for so long.  I have never taken an online course before, and I'm a little nervous to do so. I look forward to working with all of you!

Introduction-Abigail Cook

Hello, my name is Abby, and this is my first semester back to school in about nine years.  I have not taken an online class before, so I am open to suggestions on being a successful online student.  I currently work full time as a research analyst, specifically working with property tax research.  I am pursuing a Master's in Education-Special Education, working with mild/moderate students.

I am looking to change professions to become a teacher.  I became interested in working with special needs children while coaching.  I have been coaching basketball and golf for the past five years, and I absolutely love it.  I am excited to be going back to school to pursue a career that I am passionate about.

Introduction- Ashley Forbes

Hello,

My name is Ashley and I am a December, 2014 graduate of YSU where I earned a degree and license in early childhood education (pre-k to grade 3). I currently work for Youngstown City Schools as a Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) teacher and Wee Care Day Care (WCDC) & Learning Centre as a preschool and day camp teacher. I have been at WCDC since March, 2010 and have worked with some great future educators and awesome kids. I am now excited to begin the graduate program for Intervention (Mild/Moderate) so that in two years I will be a licensed intervention specialist and can work with students who have very specific learning needs.

Introduction - John Chandler

Greetings,
        My name is John Chandler. I live in Andover, Ohio and work in Youngstown. I'm currently working as a long term substitute at the Youngstown Early College as a Physical Science/Biology Teacher. I teach two Biology classes and one Physical Science course, we started back two weeks ago. Prior to this year I was a full time substitute for East high school last year, and a general substitute the year before.
        I'm enrolled in the SPED Moderate to Intense with autism certification, I just transferred from Computer Science. My undergraduate degree is in Geography/Sociology with a certificate in geographical information science. I have taken other Graduate and Undergraduate courses online in the past.

Introduction - Tony Candel

Good afternoon,

It's a pleasure to meet and learn about each of you. I am filled with many emotions as we begin this semester. To begin, it has been about eight years since I was last in school. So, you can imagine the proverbial "roller coaster" I've been on lately. One moment I'm filled with excitement over the possibilities this could provide and the next thing you know I am practically having a panic attack!  I decided to pursue the field of special education because of the experience I've had over the past eleven years while employed at the Rich Center for Autism. I love working with my students and find great joy in their growth and development. I've had the opportunity to work with all ages and stages, but especially appreciate any time I can spend helping the adolescent age group. The kids in that age range have developed some fun personalities and I love to talk, which makes for some very interesting, yet hilarious days at school. It's truly a blast!

On the personal front, I am married to a wonderful, beautiful woman, Lindsay. She is also in the education field employed as a school psychologist in Trumbull County, as well as coordinating behavioral services for the Rich Center for Autism. We have five children with ages ranging from ten (10) years to two years old. Suffice it to say, we stay busy at home as well. Whether it's soccer, basketball, baseball, girl scouts or something out of the blue, there is never a dull moment in the Candel house!

Thank you for taking the time to read my brief bio. I look forward to what this program has to offer and to sharing the experience with you.

Jodi Guarnieri Introduction

Hi my name is Jodi Guarnieri.  I am currently enrolled in the school licensure program at YSU.  This is the last class I need to take to complete my licensure.  I graduated with a BSN degree from BGSU in 1981.  I worked for many years in a PICU and NICU both full time and PRN while raising 3 children.  I worked as a school nurse in Warren City Schools for 8 years.  I am currently working as the District Nurse for Mathews Local Schools.  I am the only nurse in a district of approximately 825 students and cover 3 buildings. I feel like I spend much of my day traveling.  Some of the many job responsibilities I have in the district are; conducting diabetic, medication, and blood borne pathogen teaching to the staff.  I am also involved in the development and planning of 504 plans for students.  I also conduct vision and hearing, immunization surveillance and attend to all the first aid and medical concerns of the students. 


I truly love all the aspects of being a school nurse. This past summer I did my school nurse practicum at Fairhaven School.  I enjoyed working with all the special needs children and was very interested in all their programs they offered, particularly their extensive Early Intervention Program.  I am both excited, apprehensive and a bit intimidated about taking this class. I am very comfortable with Nursing classes but this will be a little challenging.  Most everyone in this class are teachers and have experience to draw from. My other classes were all on blackboard which I finally got used to navigating.  I will just look at this as another learning experience.

Introduction- Jamie Diemert

Hello my name is Jamie Diemert and I am a 2014 graduate of YSU. I live in Youngstown with my long term boyfriend and our 5 sons ranging in ages 19 to 2. I graduated with my bachelors in Early Childhood Education and am currently working as a kindergarten teacher at Horizon Science Academy in Youngstown. I found my love for special education first when I was working for a company that provided home health for mentally disabled adults. I worked there for many years and then I went to work for Youngstown City Schools and was placed in an Autistic preschool where I worked for 3 years. After this placement I decided working in the educational system is what I wanted to make a career out of.

It took me several years to graduate because of motherhood and life but after graduation I was hired as an intervention specialist tutor. I was instantly in love with the work that intervention specialist did. This is when I decided that I was not finished my education, while I love my job now I want the information, experiences, and flexibility to work with students that are identified and not yet identified with disabilities. I am excited to start this new journey and have a great support system of family and friends to help me through it.

Introduction - Cynthia Rocco

I am from Hudson, Ohio.  I am seeking a School Nurse License.  I graduated with a BSN from Kent State in the mid 90's.  I am currently in my second year as a district nurse in a public school with 5000 students.  I have 9+ schools that I supervise and 11 direct reports (4 LPN's and 7 medical assistants).  While I am seeking a School Nurse License, my passion and heart is with students with special needs and chronic illnesses.  I have 2 classes left before I get my license.  I think this class will be both challenging and rewarding for me.  Challenging in the fact I am not a special education teacher and I am intimidated by the entirely online component - but rewarding because I love the content.  Most of my classes have been with a small cohort and only minimally online.  

Introduction - Amanda Johnson

Hey!!! My name is Amanda. I am from Philadelphia, PA. I played soccer for YSU from 2010-2013. I graduated in the Spring from YSU with my Intervention Specialist with Mild/ Moderate and Early Childhood licensure. I am also pursuing a Master of Science in Education: Special Education- Autism and Related Disabilities Option with Licensure Moderate/Intense. I am a Graduate Assistant for the Counseling, Special Education, and Psychology department and my adviser is Dr. Gongola. She is soon to have a baby so I currently am 'floating' around the department with helping hands. I have taken two online classes before - both were English/Writing classes. I have never worked on blogger but I enjoy that it is attached to my gmail! Can't wait to journey through the masters program with all of you. May we have a successful semester!

Introduction-Trisha Amato

      Hi! My name is Trish, I grew up in Calcutta, Ohio, but have been in the Poland area for the last ten years. I am doing the Intervention specialist with the autism and other disabilities certification. I am presently employed at General Motors on the assembly line. I am looking forward to getting back into the field of special education. I have taken many courses online and have been very successful. I enjoy being able to work at my own pace and not being required to report to a classroom. 

Introduction- Courtney Ronghi

Hello Everyone! I am very excited to get started. I am from Niles. I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Education- Intervention Specialist with Mild/ Moderate licensure in Spring 2013. I am pursuing a Master of Science in Education: Special Education- Autism and Related Disabilities Option with Licensure Moderate/ Intense. I am currently in my third year teaching at Warren City Schools. I am an Intervention Specialist for the K-2 cross categorical classroom at the Jefferson building. I have students with severe cognitive disabilities. These students are with me for most of the day. My responsibilities include teaching Reading and Math aligning to students' IEP goals/objectives, teaching nonacademic skills like following an object schedule, and managing classroom educational aides. I have never taken an online course or online training. This is my first time!

Blog Post #1 - Introduce Yourself! DrMKDove

Blog Post #1 - Introduce Yourself! - DrMKDove

In the field Post [Post Title] - type Introduction - and your first and last name.

Then, compose your introduction.  Components should include: where you are from; identify your graduate program area; state your present position and briefly describe your professional work/responsibilities; and, please share if you have previously taken an online undergraduate/graduate course and/or online training. 

Thank you in advance for posting your introduction!  Candidates must make their initial blog post on or before Wednesday, August 26, 2015 (5 PM) followed by two more additional entries to other candidates' introductory posts by Friday, August 28, 2015 (5 PM).

This initial Blog Post #1 should be fairly short. 
For future blog posts - please note that we are restricted to 4,096 characters for our Blog entries.  For example a Tweet is limited to 140 characters.  An easy way to calculate how many characters/letters you have written for your Blog entry is to go to
http://www.lettercount.com/
and copy and past your Blog entry in their form - and it will automatically calculate how many characters are contained in your Blog response - before you try to copy and past on the SPED 6900 Blog.

Lastly, if you have any questions about SPED 6900 - please send me an email [DrMKDove@gmail.com].  I welcome candidates' questions.