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Rice Making Lifetime Dream a Reality at Penn State
by Kerrie Jamison (3/05)

After graduating from high school in California, Alison Rice knew she wanted to go to a big university in a small college town with school spirit, brick buildings, green grass and snow. After touring Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Miami of Ohio, Ohio University, Penn State, and Wisconsin-Madison, she had no trouble deciding where to go.

Alison Rice (right) has found a home at Penn State, including here at the 2005 dance marathon, which raised more than $4.1 million for the Four Diamonds Fund and juvenile cancer research

She was offered several scholarships from the other schools, but Penn State just felt right. "Luckily my decision didn't need to be financial, so I went with my gut and signed up to be a Nittany Lion," Alison says.

Alison, 21, grew up in Torrance, Calif., where she lived until she came to Penn State four years ago. She had a very positive experience on her tour at Penn State with Kepler Sones, academic counselor in the College of Education. "Sones remembers me, because I had so many sheets of graph paper to take notes on. I was so interested in Penn State's special education program," Alison recalls.

Since she was a child, she knew that she wanted to be a special education teacher. What drew her to special education were her early experiences working at a camp in Southern California called Pilgrim Pines Camp and Conference Center.

The camp mainly served a non-disabled kindergarten through twelfth-grade population. However, Alison had the chance to work with adults and teens with special needs. Since working with the camp, she has been a counselor and director for their adult program.

Alison said that nothing makes her happier than working with individuals with special needs, because they also have a special gift that is a blessing to be a part of. "What I love most about special education is really getting to expose others to the beauty of our field," she says.

Alison gives a ride to one of the kids at 'THON 2005

She has been extremely impressed with Penn State's faculty, practicum placements, and instructional materials made available through the department. She describes Penn State's Special Education Department as "phenomenal." Alison has had the opportunity to teach in three different placements at Penn State, which were all valuable in their own way.

Her favorite aspects of the program are its commitment to data-driven decision making, practicums that are closely tied to coursework and accessible faculty and supervisors. She also likes that it is a small and strenuous, but focused program. She is confident that her preparation and education in this program has made her a better teacher than she could have become anywhere else.

Currently, Alison is student teaching in a life-skills classroom for 15-to-17-year-olds in Norristown, Pa. She plans to move back to southern California this May and find a full-time special education position in a special day class. She also hopes to get her master’s degree sometime in the near future.

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