Last year, graduating Project 10 STING RAY students gathered outside the Grind, the campus coffee shop. They weren’t there to grab a coffee or midday snack. They stood outside to receive their certificate of completion.
STING RAY is a program that helps young adults with intellectual disabilities, ages 18-22, to experience life on a college campus, and empower themselves through independent living and gaining employability skills.
All STING RAY students are enrolled as non-degree seeking, so they are excluded from official graduation ceremonies with the rest of the student body.
Albert Moreno, a senior English major, is submitting a joint resolution to the Student Government with help from Dean Heller, asking to allow STING RAY students to participate in graduation.
Moreno has asked members of the student body to write letters of support for the resolution.
This university touts “community” as a core value in its 20/20 vision. It is a keyword repeated ad nauseum. But what community do we serve if not our own?
The students of STING RAY are valued members of the USF St. Petersburg community. They participate across campus in clubs and organizations, they speak up in classes and offer their friendship and trust to other students.
Project 10’s mission statement says that the program wants to provide an innovative and transformative postsecondary learning experience. Graduation is arguably one of the most important moments in the college experience.
The sense of pride attached to stepping across the stage with one’s peers is unique. It isn’t able to be replicated, and the students of STING RAY deserve to have it. They should be offered a cap and gown and to join the celebration with all of the students they have been connecting with while attending this university.
Cost could play a factor in the school’s decision about this issue, but there are so few STING RAY students graduating at once that this point is moot. Students are responsible for their cap and gown, and STING RAY students would be in the same position.
To speak frankly, the Crow’s Nest staff was shocked to find out that these students were not offered this experience in the first place. So many of these students have touched our lives for the better. They have given us as much as we hope we’ve given to them.
We would be honored to stand and celebrate with each and every one of the students in the STING RAY program.
