Summer programs to help students’ goals of “Getting to College” are promoted in La Crosse

More help is being made available to students with disabilities or other learning challenges who want to attend college.

A series of support programs combined under the heading of “Getting to College” was announced on Tuesday at a La Crosse news conference.

The project will offer three separate summer programs, each a week long, for young people ages 14 to 24.

The Aptiv organization in La Crosse is a major supporter of the student assistance effort. Aptiv program director Nate Hundt said the project is aimed at reaching people who believe that limitations might prevent them from earning a degree.

“That’s not what we think, but that’s what society thinks, is that a diagnosis with a disability means, I have a limitation on my life, and that’s going to affect me for my entire life,” Hundt said. “We want to erase that limitation,” he said, so people can pursue “a dream that they can achieve.”

Chris Masey with Aptiv is administrator of the Getting to College program.

He calls the project “an opportunity for students with challenges to learn how to get to college. It provides support and assistance, all kinds of different programs, from workshops to paperwork, getting your resumes done, getting your college application done.”

Also speaking during the event at the Black River Beach Neighborhood Center was Abby Tessmann, who owns a company in Madison called Transit 2 Go.

Tessmann offered her support to the Getting to College campaign, talking about her own experiences in overcoming disability, “whether assisting in classrooms, working directly with students, or observing various teaching methods,” helping lead to an understanding of “what true inclusion looks like.”

People wanting to take part in the summer program are asked to register by April 15.