Life after parents: Winthrop’s Think College welcomes Fort Mill students

At Winthrop University’s Convocation Monday, the school’s incoming freshmen participated in opening traditions, including the “Blue Line” processional walk by students and alumni.

But it was only the second time in the university’s nearly 130-year history that any intellectually disabled adults have made the walk as Winthrop students.

These students are part of the Winthrop Think College Program, a two-year nondegree college program, now in its second year. Peer mentors accompany the students to class and social activities as an integral part of the program.

There are fewer than 20 similar programs in the country, and South Carolina is home to five of them, according to Jennifer Cease-Cook, director of the Winthrop Think College. The other programs in the state are at USC, Clemson, College of Charleston and Coastal Carolina.

Last fall, Basia Oley, 20, Kevin Rauppius, 20 and Sara Oxenfeld, 22, became the first – and only – students in the Think College’s inaugural semester. On Monday, 17 Think College students began their university experience at Winthrop.

“We’re the only program in the nation that has grown from three (students) to 20 in one year,” Cease-Cook said.

After completing the first year in the Think College, students have the opportunity to live on campus for their final year, with a peer mentor as a roommate. Four students moved on campus Friday, including the college’s original three.

Gerry and Terri Oley of Fort Mill adopted their only child, Basia, from Poland, when she was 4 years old. On Friday, mom and dad left Basia at college, just like other parents.

“Basia always wanted to go to college,” said her dad, Gerry Oley.

In sixth grade, the other kids started talking about where they wanted to go to college.

“She said, ‘I’ll never get to go. There’s not a college for me,” said Basia’s mom, Terri, as she helped Basia, a graduate of Fort Mill High School, make her bed in her dorm room.

Independent living is one of the key focuses of the Think College, along with employment, self-determination, social networking and health and nutrition.

“From the second students come on campus, they’re enrolled in five classes and they have a job,” Cease-Cook said.

The Think College’s mission is for the students to be included and integrated as much as possible into the regular college experience. Think College students take fitness and arts classes with other Winthrop students, as well as classes exclusively with Think College students focused on the college’s areas of concentration.

Terri Oley said she saw a huge change in Basia’s confidence during her first year at Winthrop. Now, she feels Basia is ready to live independent of mom and dad.

“There’s life after your parents,” her mom said. “It’s almost like it was meant to be,” Gerry Oley said.

Amber Wesson, a Nation Ford graduate, was one of the new Think College students walking the “Blue Line” on Monday.

Wesson said he is impressed with how the Think College is tailored around the individual needs of each student.

“We really like Winthrop’s philosophy,” Wesson said. “I think it’s going to be a very popular program going forward.”

And as far as Amber moving out and living on campus next year – “She’s all for that,” Wesson said. “She’s done told us she’s moving out. She’s going to college. She’s packed and ready now.”

“Yeah,” Amber smiles in agreement.

Nation Ford graduate Kendall Little, 21, is signed up for acting and kickboxing at Winthrop, along with his Think College classes.

“I like to watch movies,” Kendall said. “I like to see my new friends.”

Winthrop’s Think College is an innovative program, said Sherita Little, Kendall’s mom.

“Different places…they don’t have that option,” she said. “He would spend all day at the adult center.”

Little said there was a time when she questioned why God chose her to parent a child with special needs.

But then, Little said, she realized, “(Kendall) doesn’t need me. I need him. He keeps me humble…that’s my love bug.”

Kendall’s church secretary read his acceptance letter at the front of the church, and the church members gave him a standing ovation.

“(Kendall) says, ‘Everybody is my friend,” Sherita Little said.

Back on campus, Cease-Cook stops by to say hello to her students on Move-In Day and see how they’re getting acclimated to dorm life.

“Yesterday, (at orientation,) I was crying trying to explain to the parents the magnitude of what we are doing,” Cease-Cook said.

“Changing the world, right here,” Cease-Cook said. “Inclusion is what we want, so our T-shirts say, ‘Inclusion – #WereChangingTheWorld.’”

This story was originally published August 22, 2015 at 7:13 PM with the headline "Life after parents: Winthrop’s Think College welcomes Fort Mill students."