Students are reaching out to the community and helping special needs children.
They are doing this through one of the newest organizations to join Harding’s various student-led groups is the Student Council for Exceptional Children.
The Council for Exceptional Children is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving the educational success of individuals with disabilities and/or gifts and talents.
In the fall of 1995, Dr. Richard Blankenship and Dr. Jan Morgan resurrected the student chapter of this organization, SCEC, on the Harding University campus.
The organization has built up to 40 members. The group, which includes students of all majors, mainly provides respite care for White County families.
Members meet at local churches one Friday evening of each month. Parents bring their children with exceptional needs and their siblings to the church and then have a few hours to themselves.
During that time, children usually do crafts, play games, have a snack and watch movies.
“Respite care is such an important part of what Student Council for Exceptional Children does,” said Dr. Carol Douglass, associate professor of education and Student Council for Exceptional Children sponsor. “There is such a need for it in the Searcy community.”
Besides respite care, Student Council for Exceptional Children members participate in fundraisers for area schools, according to Douglass.
In the past, members have held bake sales to buy school supplies for Kids First graduates and volunteered at the Special Olympics.
Members said they have learned a lot from the work they do with the children involved in Student Council for Exceptional Children.
“I have learned that even though it’s hard work, it’s good work,” junior Claire Moody said. “It’s important to serve those in your community and be a missionary, no matter where you are. These kids want love and attention just like other kids.”
While the members of the group said they enjoy their work, they said they hope more people become involved in the group and with children with disabilities, both mental and physical.
Junior Emily Welfare, president of the Student Council for Exceptional Children, said she hoped students realized the potential good that they could do.
“I know that we will never have too much help,” Welfare said. “A little goes a long way. But more than being involved with this organization, I encourage people to be involved with these children; the whole point of the group is to be involved in children’s lives.”
