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RAMP Success Story: Kevin

RAMP Success Story: Kevin

Although Kevin is in 9th grade, and it may be a little early for him to get a paying job, he expressed interest in obtaining one in the future. Kevin seemed very interested in hands-on activities and wanted that within his profession. He was very interested in working with cars, and one of his future goals was to purchase his first car independently. Kevin is a 9th grade student that attends Hamilton West High School and is a newly joined RAMP member. Kevin has a mild intellectual disability and participates in life skills classes at his local high school. Kevin comes from a middle-class Hispanic family and is bilingual in Spanish and English. Kevin remained very active throughout RAMP, participating in all activities and lessons. He enjoyed working independently along with completing group activities with others. When completing his work, he always remained on task and focused and needed little to no redirecting. Kevin completed all given assignments on time and consistently put forth his best efforts. He was never one to be afraid to ask for help or guidance and always took on the role of helping others. 

Kevin is still enrolled in high school and will be moving to 10th grade come the following school year. This year was a success for Kevin. He received good grades throughout all his classes and hoped to do the same come September. He will continue doing his life skills classes. Kevin is currently not working due to his age but is interested in obtaining a job shortly. One of Kevin’s most significant accomplishments throughout his involvement within RAMP was acting as a leader to his peers. One of the students in his class struggled to come from a native country and did not know English or basic life skills. Without hesitation or prompting, Kevin was the one to act as a mentor to him every session. Kevin being bilingual in Spanish and English, would help guide him by explaining the lesson and informing him on what needed to be done. Kevin displayed the qualities and characteristics we look for in a leader and always rose to the occasion. 

Overall, Kevin enjoyed participating in RAMP and wished to do it again. As time went on, he opened up to staff and peers and became more comfortable. His favorite parts of RAMP were learning new topics and earning incentives, and he enjoyed one activity we did as a class. Students were split into two teams and given five categories in which they had to determine five words that began with the same given letter. The categories were person, place, food, thing, and animal. They were given a time limit and went head-to-head against one another. The first person to get all five words before the timer ran out was allotted a point for their team. The winning team would receive extra credit for the day. The students, including Kevin himself, seemed to enjoy the competitiveness and had fun. I asked Kevin if there were any recommendations he would give me or anything I should have done differently throughout RAMP, and he said he wouldn’t change a thing. RAMP created a fun and welcoming learning environment for him in which he could genuinely thrive within.