This week our GA, Josh Devine, shares his experience from the MIPSA conference last Friday in St. Louis which the Bear POWER team attended.
The Midwest Inclusive Postsecondary Alliance (MIPSA) is a regional alliance that includes inclusive programs from surrounding states in the Midwest. On April 20th the University of Missouri- St. Louis’ SUCCEED program held a conference focusing on the residential life and the role it plays on the inclusive post-secondary education programs.
Missouri State University’s Bear Power attended alongside programs from Ohio, Minnesota, Arkansas, Kansas, and other programs from Missouri. We had the opportunity to tour the residence halls at UMSL, specifically Oak Hall, where freshmen and sophomores live alongside the SUCCEED students. The SUCCEED students were spread throughout the dormitory living in suite styles along with one other SUCCEED student and two not in the program, degree seeking students.
Residential Assistants placed inside Oak Hall undergo typical RA training, but those who were selected to be SUCCEED RA’s were given supplemental training to prepare them for the possibilities and also training them with best practices. I believe that this is very important, and during the conference it was highlighted during a role-playing session between the two presenters. They believe that role-playing a situation is a great way to train their RA’s.
Another section of the conference was listening to Dr. Clare Papay from ThinkCollege. Her presentation focused on the types of residential agreements, and what other colleges have been attempting throughout their programs. Overall, the MIPSA conference was very beneficial for everyone who came, and provided crucial information for the development of our Bear Blazer training.
MIPSA meets every 6 months. The first meeting was last summer at UMKC, spring’s meeting was at UMSL, and next will be Mizzou in the fall and Ohio in the spring. We at Bear Power are excited to be working with this alliance in providing inclusive post-secondary education opportunities to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.